McDonalds to go Wireless?

crayongod writes "The AP, by way of AOL *yipe*, is reporting a pilot program by McDonalds to provide inhouse WiFi with the purchase of a combo meal. This sure will make roadtrips a lot easier." An hour of access per combo meal. Additional hours can be purchased for $3... or another zillion calorie combo meal. Mmmm. Healthy.

Comments

McSlashdot

[TheViciousOverWind]

Do you want fries with that?

Re:McSlashdot

[etcpasswd]

More like, do you want trolls with that?

Re:McSlashdot

[Aumaden]

Would you like to supersize that order to 802.11g for only 39 cents more?

-- Aumaden

Re:McSlashdot

[CaffineMan]

How cool is that?
On road trips I usually find it a lot easier to find Mc D's than a telephone.

Re:McSlashdot

[mr100percent]

You want freedom fries with that?

Would you like...

[accident]

a port scan with that?

Re:Would you like...

[bobdotorg]

"Would you like WiFi's with that?"

Re:Would you like...

[m4ximusprim3]

id like a #34 McWiFi meal with extera packets :)

FP?

[Anonymous Coward]

WiFi and calories: talk about "the Cowboy Neal option!"

Dang it.

[numbski]

There goes another customer. :P

We're rolling out wifi all over the place, and McDonald's was going to be one of our targets.

Starbucks around here already said 'no' because they have an exclusive agreement with MSN to do it.

A year later not a single Starbucks around here has wifi. :(

Re:Dang it.

[Anonymous Coward]

have you considered the businesses next to starbucks?

Re:Dang it.

[tprox]

I know what you mean...It seems like rolling out the technology is less of a "Let's do it for our customers" thing and more of a "Let's partner with the bigshots and put up a big advertisment" thing.

All hype, no substance. When it does roll out, everyone will have forgotten about it, and it becomes nothing before it even has a chance. My opinion only, but it seems that in order for something to be popular, it has to hit a niche market, and grow from there (one example is Instant Messaging). I know a few places in Boston that tried to do sidewalk WiFi. I'm not sure how well it's working, but he's still in business :)

Re:Dang it.

[Anonymous Coward]

A Starbucks without wifi? You must live in Mississippi, right?

Re:Dang it.

[TheMidget]

have you considered the businesses next to starbucks?

Why would that business be interested, unless it was a coffeeshop too?

• If it is a different type of business (a fast food joint, a bookstore, etc.), their customers will just profit from the wifi leaking in from Starbucks, so not point in wasting money to set up your own.
• If OTOH it was a coffee-shop too, it would want a Wifi network just for the annoyance value (hoping it will leak into the Starbucks next door, and disturb their network...)

Re:Dang it.

[EvilTwinSkippy]

Pick on the local mom-and-pop establishments. I have had pretty good responses from local coffee shops. I'm also going to start working on bars too.

It doesn't hurt that my linux-based equipment is a LOT cheaper than commercial billing software.

Re:Dang it.

[d5w]

If OTOH [the business next to Starbucks] was a coffee-shop too, it would want a Wifi network just for the annoyance value

More like: if it's a decent coffee shop it may be that the Starbucks WiFi is the only real advantage Starbucks offers, but in high geek density areas that may be a real advantage. (On the other hand, I was working in a local coffee shop recently and had a brief chat with the guy working next to me. He was using a low-bit-rate cellular connection; I was unconnected. At one point the conversation went:

• him: You know about the WiFi at Starbucks, right?
• me: Yeah, but then I'd be drinking Starbucks coffee.
• him: Good point.

So perhaps it's not a world-beating advantage.)

Re:Dang it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why don't you go drink some fucking Maxwell house. Starbucks has the highest quality coffee on the market. Fucking anti-establishment drones.

Re:Dang it.

[asscroft]

""it seems that in order for something to be popular, it has to hit a niche market, and grow from there""

You mean it needs to involve the sex industry, and evovle from there.

IM/webcams/aol/usenet/blogs/

Slashdot and video game consoles are about the only tech thing I can think of that wasn't first pioneered by porn.

Re:Dang it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Starbucks has the Best coffee, except for almost everyone else. Cocksucking rush limbaugh fathead drones.

Re:Dang it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm... high quality CRAP!!!!

Go hop in your SUV and go get some more of your scourched coffee you damn yuppie.

Re:Dang it.

[Spriggig]

Where I live there is *NO* residential high-speed internet access (except for satellite, yeah right). The opportunity to surf at better than 56k is appealing. Turn the kids loose in the ball-pit and get some "work" done.

Re:Dang it.

[Kurin]

I go to smaller coffee establishments with the same coffee and cheaper prices. Starbucks? More like Fourbucks.

Re:Dang it.

[pyrote]

Leak next door be damned, AIM it next door. If they don't have access yet, your not going to conflict with anything.

When/if they get around to adding Wi-Fi it will be too late, you will have prior establishment.

Allow em to pay for the service on a handy dandy secure web page via the network, and viola, you just took over the wi-fi from the big guys.

Take that MSN!

Sweet!

[rice_web]

Now I can get fat twice over.

Re:Sweet!

[Pharmboy]

This isn't going to do much to remove the stereotypical "Comic Book Guy" from the Simpsons image. Fat, loney, and sweats in 60 degree weather.

Worse Happy Meal Ever.

As reported by AP

[tcleveland]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=5 28&e=2&cid=528&u=/ap/20030311/ap_on_hi_te/mcdonald s_intel

Wireless @ McDonalds

[Silwenae]

I think a wireless experience at a McDonalds is very different from a Starbucks or a Borders. At McDonalds, my goal is to eat and get out, where at a Starbucks or Borders they encourage you to stay and socialize much more than McD's does.

I can see where it would be nice to have WiFi for your PDA to check email, but lugging my notebook in and getting my greasy fingers from my french fries on my laptop keyboard doesn't seem right.

I understand McDonald's business is hurting, but getting the tech crowd in isn't going to solve their revenue shortfalls.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[scheuri]

I second that actually... looks like they want people staying actually inside the restaurant... IMHO most people go in, grab the food and then go out again (especially in summer/good weather time)...I dont think that (or I hope it wont) be a reason to stay longer in McD... and after all, IMO it doesnt necessarily raise their income because people do not necessarily buy more food (not talking drinks, which is not really their primary income product, is it?)... starbucks and such in that case, making money by people staying, drinking another coffee...might have a better impact with such a concept... starbucks and such aren't often named in combination with "fast food", are they? my 2 rappen scheuri

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[Anonymous Coward]

If you are in the AARP set, you are likely to linger at McDonalds. At most of the McDonalds in my area (Wash DC/No VA), I've noticed older people "lingering", especially in the mornings.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[compwizrd]

And oddly enough, McDonalds stores were designed to get people to leave as soon as they could

Odd colour schemes, uncomfortable chairs, etc.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[ianscot]

I think a wireless experience at a McDonalds is very different from a Starbucks or a Borders.

Right -- Starbucks and Borders are all about a business model that went out of its way NOT to push people in and out of the door as fast as possible. Borders, and the Barnes and Noble "superstores," were very much reactions to B Dalton's buy-your-Stephen-King-and-get-out-of-the-cashier's -way approach.

B Daltons is still around, though, just serving a different audience. Makes you wonder how well Mickey-D's knows its own business model -- or how seriously they're looking to change it.

(This'd maybe make sense in McDonalds' franchises at highway stops, for traveling types?)

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[Anonymous Coward]

They actually make a lot of money on drinks....

At BK a whopper costs $0.54 in food [not counting labor or store costs] and sells for $2.39. A Medium coke costs $0.10 and sells for $1.29.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[Skidge]

not talking drinks, which is not really their primary income product, is it?

Not sure how true it is, but I've heard that many fast food places make a lot of their money off of drinks. It only costs them a nickel or dime to fill one of those huge cups they charge your over a dollar for. They just have the food there so you'll buy more drinks.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[bluGill]

Just like any other resteraunt, McDonalds has busy times and slow times. If you linger in a slow time they don't care anyway, and if you linger to/through a busy time your going to need more food anyway.

Your incorrect that people don't linger. Most people don't true, but a few do. McDonalds is used as a meeting place by some groups. I once walked into someone presenting a buisness plan at 10:30 at night in a McDonalds. The restaruant was perfect, open that late, free, and provided coffee. (It was none of my business so I didn't linger but it seemed to be a potential startup that didn't yet have investers)

Access is provided one hour at a time, so it seems like they are trying to provide for the [business] crowd that comes in for lunch and needs to get some work done. This is the perfect way to target salesmen, they tend to spend most of their time behind customer firewalls that won't let them check email at the office. Run to McDonalds for lunch/supper (when you are not buying the customer lunch...) and catch up on the office news.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[Anonymous Coward]

They give them free coffee.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[TopShelf]

I agree, I see this being more of a play for salesmen who are on the road (and increasingly using web-based CRM tools like Salesforce.com) and business travellers who want to check on things quickly while on the road. As a systems analyst who occasionally makes road trips to from Indiana to Wisconsin, I would definitely take advantage of this along the way...

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[Anonymous Coward]

No... they can't figure out where they live.... Plus, there's all that elder flesh to sniff after.....

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[nbehary]

If you have kids and have ever taken them to a McD's with a playplace, you could see how nice this really would be. My kids can easily spend an hour playing in McDonalds. I'd love to be able to bring my laptop along and surf while they play.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[evronm]

I understand McDonald's business is hurting, but getting the tech crowd in isn't going to solve their revenue shortfalls

I think they already got "the tech crowd" :-).

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[will_die]

Yep, soft drinks are a huge money maker for food places.
You can usally get the dispensers for free or a cheap price, and then purchasing large quantities of syrup and CO2 is relativly cheap. For my parents stores we paid more for the cup and lid then the soda.
That is one of the nice things about the "combo meals" you get a huge increase of the number of people who were not purchasing sodas or who where purchasing smaller sizes, So you do the combos with the large drink but give no discount(some places give a small discount, most don't check the next time at a fast food joint) and is a really nice increase in the money flow.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[micromoog]

By the same token, if you're in the AARP set, you're not likely to seek wireless Internet access.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[leviramsey]

Makes you wonder how well Mickey-D's knows its own business model -- or how seriously they're looking to change it.

Well, McDonalds has been losing business steadily over the past several years. It started with dinner. Look at how empty a Mickey-D's is at dinner-time. This is why they introduced McPizza over a decade ago (which failed). The breakfast market kept the business going for a while, and the lunch market has been stagnant. When you're having this much trouble selling product, for so long, you have to re-evaluate the model. Mickey-D's previous/current model was to get as many customers in and out as possible; to this end, the seats are designed to be somewhat uncomfortable (especially if you lean back). However, Mickey-D's may see that providing a "third place", a place outside the home and family to socialize, is the marketing angle that it wants to project.

This is not without precedent. Ian Shoales, of the Duck's Breath Mystery Theatre, referred to McDonalds as an oasis of politeness in a desert of ill will and that McDonalds was selling this polite and happy place more than they were selling the food (this was about 20 years ago).

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe it's like that where you live, but i live in a large metropolitan area (north jersey) and there are signs posted that say 'you are only allowed 30 minutes after purchase to stay in this restuarant'. in manhattan i have seen the sames signs the difference is that it says 15 minutes instead of 30.

Mcdonalds are usually packed with people except in the early hours so i dont expect this program to reach this area (considering that this would encourage customers to stay for an hour.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[Triv]

B Daltons is still around, though, just serving a different audience.

B. Dalton's is also owned by...guess who? Barnes and Noble, thank you for playing. BN bought 'em and kept 'em around to serve as their shopping mall/mass transit hub (like Union Station, Wash. DC) outlet.

Trib

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[kryonD]

Here's the real kicker....McD's in Tokyo has already been providing WiFi. Except not with the retarded marketing scheme being pushed in the US. In Tokyo, you have an account with a major provider and McD's just provides the connection. The provider kicks back a percentage to McD's who now can compete directly with starbucks as a place where people can go for a coffee break and take work with them. No one really stays all that long; just long enough to tweak a spreadsheet while sipping a cup of coffee in a less crowded and possibly more convenient place than the local starbucks. I've noticed a lot of people coming in around the 9 to 11 mark when business is traditionally slow to read email and watch news on the 42in Plasma TV's thay have.

The idea works in Tokyo because McD's is really not doing anything outside of their core business. Network support is contracted out, so they just have to keep making cofee and food. The US side is trying to add sysadmin tasks to the McDonald's worker as well as bank on folks using a computer while they eat a big mac. The only reason why I go to McD's over here is because they still have the fried apple pies, not that baked crap the US stores have served for the last 10 years. I'm not going to buy a value meal just to get on the net when I can do it at work for free, or home for what I'm already paying my ISP.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh man, those fried apple pies are good. I need to go get one next time I'm in Japan...

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[Foochar]

Actually, you might be suprised. One of the fastest growing segments of private computer users is the retired set. This suprises a lot of people but once you look at it it starts to make sense.

Most people retiring today have at least a basic familiarity with computers from their workplace. The retired set as a group also tend to have more disposable income that they can spend on computers. Yeah, the teenager might be all excited about technology, and know all about it, but can he afford it?. Lastly they have the free time to spend on the computer engaged in lesiure activities. They may not buy the latest and greatest games, but they e-mail, surf the web, etc.

Retirement communities are now having to take into consideration things such as computer labs, high speed access for their residents, and a generally more tech savy population than ever before. I think you would be suprised by the number of older people who would seriously consider taking advantage of this if McDonalds offered it.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[fermion]

But the service will not likely be targeted to the tech crowd. It will be targeted to the business or perhaps student that want to do some work or play on their palm or iBook. As you say, the customer can sit, eat, and check email or surf. You are correct to say that McD is not a place you go to sit and work and chat, but it is a place that people go and sit for a finite time. During that time, they can, if they wish to, be online.

I think that people are missing the implications of the wired world. With a small laptop and widely available wireless net, it becomes practical to surf anywhere. Instead of bringing a newspaper with, you read the newspaper on line. Instead of talking on your cell phone, you IM.

McD is a company that is good at giving the masses what they want. They food is adequate, but no longer different from all the other fast food joints. They try to compete on price, but consumers seem to have decided it still is not the best value. This wireless thing is a way for them to differentiate themselves at a very reasonable cost. Compare the cost outfitting a store with wireless to the few hundred thousand it recently cost to redo the kitchen for make on demand foodstuff. This could be the beginning of standard wireless everywhere.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, I can think of one big way they can profit by this. I have 4 kids who love the play areas at McD's. If I can take my laptop and get some work done while they play, I'll be eating a lot of Big Macs in the future.

(oh well, better bump up my time on the elliptical to 60 minutes a day instead of 30!)

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[TGK]

The question the McD's execs should be asking themselves is this. If they're not eating at our chain, where are they eating?

If the answer is "other fast food joints" then wi-fi is a good plan. It makes McD's unique in some way, and will add something to McD's in a feild of relitively identical goods.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[macmill1]

I see your point...but I was in Sao Paulo, Brazil last summer and they had kiosks in every McDonalds. It cracked me up...they were labeled McInternet. They seemed pretty popular but I'm not sure the average Brazilian has much internet access at home. Al Virgin Slashdot poster.....until now.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[MasterRa]

I gotta agree with most of on this. I wouldn't go to Mcdonalds for wifi access if i had a choice.. nowhere around here has it that i know of (Little Rock, AR). It would just be bad news to take you're laptop, or even pda, into a mcdonalds. Kids running around spilling drinks everywhere, and grease on everything. Not to mention you're own fries. What they should do is have the access point's range cover at least 50 feet from the building, or maybe even more. I could see going in and eating, and then sitting on a bench outside (away from the kids) and checking my mail, or just catching up - on a road trip, that is. I just took a long trip, and stopped at a few McDonalds on the way, and it would have been pretty useful if i could have gotten online. In fact, it would have been great. So i'd be all for that. Even at an extra charge :)

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[opermonkey]

But lets say for a moment that McDonalds service was targeted o the tech crowd. It would be a LAN party every day. Geeks packed in lie sardines, machines everywhere, and there would be no need for a 2AM food run because the food would be right there. Really, there would be no reason to ever leave. (Ecept for the fact that the food sucks)

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[hoop33]

Yep, soft drinks are a huge money maker for food places.

True, but the wifi isn't going to increase drink revenue--refills are free, so people sitting around on the 'Net may drink a lot, but won't be adding to anyone's coffers.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[MikePikeFL]

While it may not be a great spot to sit and relax, I think it will be great when I'm on a roadtrip and instead of dialing in from a motel room like usual, I can grab a quick byte to eat (fast food is all that is open that late near the highway anyway) and check my email at the same time. Combine two steps in one. Of course it could lead to longer stop times which is not desirable while trying to make good time. I can see it now... "I'll just check /. real quick..."

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[Anonymous Coward]

At McDonalds, my goal is to eat and get out, where at a Starbucks or Borders they encourage you to stay and socialize much more than McD's does.

While many geeks don't procreate, many of those that do will no doubt have discovered the McDonald's Play Place. When young kids can't play outside, it's a useful way for them to burn off some energy. They're typically in an enclosed, windowed room on the restaurants, with only one non-alarmed exit to watch, and the play equipment is quite safe (they know the legal and reputational risks, so do make a solid effort). Add WiFi, and it could be far more attractive bargain. Kids get to run around with other kids, parent gets to surf and remain "connected".

Of course it it is unhealthy, devilishly marketed food, but life is full of tradeoffs.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[Xarin]

One advantage of McDonalds over Starbucks is all you can drink Coke.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[Anonvmous Coward]

"I think a wireless experience at a McDonalds is very different from a Starbucks or a Borders. At McDonalds, my goal is to eat and get out, where at a Starbucks or Borders they encourage you to stay and socialize much more than McD's does"

I think it's meant more for travellers. McDonald's is always easier to find than Starbucks. I can think of a couple of business trips I went on where I couldn't find an SB anywhere.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[Xarin]

I've heard that most of the cost of the Coke is for ice.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[hicktruckdriver]

They still have the fried apple pies overseas? Man, I used to think America was a better place to live, but...

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[Hognoxious]

there would be no reason to ever leave.

What, McDonalds serve beer (as in beer) where you live?

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[boskone]

Especially RV'ers. I have several friends who are retired and travel at least part of the year with their laptops and use either a borrowed land line or else cellular to get email from the kids and to get stuff from the internet. This would have enormous appeal over time to the older crowd who travels, as they would always know they could swing into a McD's a couple of times a week to check email and catch up with thier online tasks.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[King_TJ]

I dunno.... I often used to stop at McD's for lunch at the last 2 or 3 places I worked.

Typically, you'd get an hour for lunch, and it really made the day seem to drag on forever if you spent it eating at your desk or in the company cafeteria.

On the other hand, I didn't want to spend the cash to go someplace more fancy like Starbucks. (I always total up what it would cost me to bring my own lunch to work, and try not to spend more than a dollar or so over that if I eat out instead.)

McDonalds may indeed have rather uncomfortable chairs and odd color schemes - but not to the point where it'd stop me from checking some email and web-surfing a bit over lunch for 30-40 minutes.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[Monkey Angst]

I can think of a couple of business trips I went on where I couldn't find an SB anywhere.

I'm officially moving to wherever it was you went on those trips!

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[endoboy]

The cup leads the way... then the ice

similarly, the most expensive part of a bag-o-chips is the bag

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[.com b4 .storm]

Yep, soft drinks are a huge money maker for food places.

Amen to that. At the state fair around here, someone I know does drinks and snacks vending. They make a 400% profit on Coca Cola, because the cups and the soda itself costs them next to nothing. The state fair is a great place for profits like that - you can sell air and liquid for outrageous prices and people will pay. It's all part of the spirit, and cool drinks are a necessity here in the desert in summertime...

I'm in the wrong business.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[flajann]

McDonald's is hurting because of their lousy food and poor service. They seem to be missing the mark and not getting the message. No amount of "gimmicking" is going to fix their core problem.

As a vegetarian, I find McD even more repulsive. Even their fries contain cow fat. There is literally NOTHING I can eat at McDs. Even their salads are wilty and doesn't impress me as being fresh at all.

So veggie or not, McD sucks. Not to mention that their business plan involves getting people in and out quickly -- something they were FORCED to modify for their asian clientelle.

Going wifi will not save them. Let them die and go the way of K-Fart and Enron....

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[tchdab1]

The last time (2 yrs ago?) I brought my laptop into McDonalds and fired up my Ricochet connection, the manager angrily trod out and demanded that I unplug from their AC power plug. And kept coming out every 5 minutes to give me angry looks, to be sure I didn't re-power, and to intimidate me to eat and get out.

Culturally, I can't see hanging out there and connecting with anything.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[jafuser]

I'm visualizing an RV parked next to a phone booth, with a wire running out to a coupler modem rigged up with the payphone.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[Anonymous Coward]

And, of course, everyone is going to be bought by, guess who? Micro$oft.

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[Anonymous Coward]

"I understand McDonald's business is hurting, but getting the tech crowd in isn't going to solve their revenue shortfalls."

I can tell you really easily why McDonalds is losing money hand over fist: Their Double Quarter Pounder meal costs a dollar more than Jack in the Box's Bacon Double cheeseburger meal and Carl Jr's Double Western Cheeseburger meal. Not only is the DQP meal a dollar more, it doesn't taste as good and it doesn't have bacon on it. Why would anyone buy their food when it costs more and has fewer "features"?

/megaton (someone who eats at these places every day)

Re:Wireless @ McDonalds

[ianscot]

B. Dalton's is also owned by...guess who? Barnes and Noble

Yeah, I used that example because I worked for both companies and was around when the purchase took place, actually.

McDonald's, though, isn't spinning off a more upscale division, or buying a new brand (ugh, that's so jargony) to fill in a market gap -- they're stuck with the golden arches brand, and they're seemingly viewing this three-city wifi thing as a test for migrating the whole chain in that direction... Seems to me like it's an idea that would work at freeway stops, not in inner-city franchises -- but they're trying to do it across both those in places like Chicago.

How does a consumer know which kind of Mickey D's she's walking into? Pretty muddled.

Right.

[vjmurphy]

Do the geeks who would be excited by this really need another reason to eat junk food and sit on their butts while Web surfing?

Re:Right.

[IIRCAFAIKIANAL]

Heh, I'm eating fat free yogurt and a granola bar (outta milk, no raisin bran for me) while I'm web surfing. And sometimes I use my stationary bike while I surf.

Who says a geek can't be healthy? :P

In any case, WiFi in a fast food restaurant? Doesn't make sense. Airport - sure. Coffee Shop - cool. McDonalds - uh, why would I be stupid enough to pull my laptop out there and watch some kid spill ice-cream or coke on it? And since when did a fast food restaurant want you to hang around?

It's a publicity gimmick, and a stupid one at that.

Re:Right.

[DirkDaring]

Who says a geek can't be healthy? :P

Not to mention McDonalds sells healthy food. Actually all of their food is healthy. It's eating too much of it and not balancing your diet that does bad things to do (but most people ignore that).

Dirk

Re:Right.

[technix4beos]

sure... right.

You do know that milk is not for humans, right?

Here are a couple of helpful url's, for those that want to know more about the myths of milk:

http://www.everydayliving.com/archives/myth_abou t_ milk.htm

http://www.jivdaya.org/myth_about_milk_by_pramod ab en.htm

http://www.afpafitness.com/articles/MILKMYTH.HTM

Have fun.

Re:Right.

[Anonymous Coward]

damn vegans..... next you'll be telling us that slaughtering millions of cows and chickens each year is genocide......

and your OS is irrelevant as well.... (mature, eh?)

Re:Right.

[jdreed1024]

And since when did a fast food restaurant want you to hang around?

Actually, when I was a kid, there was a Burger King downtown that had table service. Yes, table service - as in you order, they bring it to you. (And this wasn't that long ago - ~1985/86). It wasn't a bad idea. The food comes quickly, but you can sit and hang around if you want - they had real chairs and tables too - none of this molded plastic crap. I wonder if they tried this anywhere. That Burger King was frequented by bankers and other suit types, so I bet WiFi there would have worked. Then along came the chic diets of the '90s in which eating anything fried is worse than spending a weekend in hell, and they closed in '93 or '94 (along with the nearby McDonalds and Wendys), and an Au Bon Pain moved in.

But I'm getting off-topic

Re:Right.

[kcelery]

You mean MacDonald should serve human milk instead of cow milk ???

Re:Right.

[CynicTheHedgehog]

Whataburger does this in just about every store I've been to. They also have TVs tuned into the news and a whole basket full of non-retarded ketchup packets at the table (the kind that you peel the top off of and can dip your fries into, rather than the kind you have to tear open and squish out onto your hamburger wrappper and scrape fries across). Whataburger also has the drink machine out in the dining area, which is another factor that encourages people to linger.

But no, my experience at McDonald's (and Wendy's for that matter) has been order-eat-get-out. I don't usually have my laptop with me when I happen by those places and if I did I sure as hell wouldn't bring it inside.

Re:Right.

[Ed Avis]

The logical next step is for McD's to provide computers as well. Something like a McTablet PC, with a touch-sensitive screen and a completely smooth surface to make it easy to clean. At the end of your meal you hand it back and they put it through the wash.

Re:Right.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not to mention McDonalds sells healthy food. Actually all of their food is healthy. It's eating too much of it and not balancing your diet that does bad things to do (but most people ignore that).

ummm, yeah... order a bottled water maybe...

Re:Right.

[Triv]

Even better anecdote: Do you remember when you could smoke in Burger Kings? Remember those gaudy gold ashtrays with the logo stamped into the bottom? I need to hit a Greenwich village junk store and see if I can find some of those. :)

Triv

Re:Right.

[JCholewa]

> damn vegans..... next you'll be telling
> us that slaughtering millions of cows and
> chickens each year is genocide......

More like slavery, since we try to keep the population existant, though the analogy to concentration camps is interesting.

The anti-poster has an interesting point. Ever since I moved away from milk and towards cola (sometimes Pepsi One, which tastes good but has nasty chemicals, which you can prove by simply leaving it out in cold weather and watching it explode), I've gone from 26% to 17% body fat content (since October/November) and moved up from being able to do half a push-up a day to being able to do several hundred push-ups a day (since January).

Granted, I happen to have a milk tooth (er, I mean, a "sweet tooth" for milk), evidenced by my ability to eat entire bars of cream cheese for a midnight snack, so I probably experienced a greater than average benefit from avoiding the stuff. ;)

-JC

PS: And Methylphenidate helps a little, too, being an appetite inhibitor, though it's notable that I was only using it sporadically and rarely during my periods of most rapid (~5lbs/wk) and most consistent (every week for two months) weight loss (yay).

Re:Right.

[Anonymous Coward]

No offense, but did you ever think the weight loss might have more to do with the fact that you now do several hundred push-ups a day (and, I assume, other exercise) and less to do with the milk?

Re:Right.

[Ponty]

Did you ever think that the hundreds of pushups might be responsible for the body fat decrease? Or a tapeworm.

Re:Right.

[unicron]

Funny, my wife was actually creating milk within her own body for our daughter. I actually read that women have done this throughout the history of the world! Crazy shit I know, but it's true.

Maybe you meant bovine milk.

Re:Right.

[MsGeek]

OK, Mickey D's has a grilled chicken sandwich, salads with or without chicken in them, and in Los Angeles, chicken Fajita rollups. They also have a yogurt and fruit parfait concoction for dessert. All of these are halfway decent choices for those stuck at Mickey D's and wanting something that won't cause their aorta to pop.

Oh yeah...you can also buy a bottle of Dannon's bottled water at some McDonalds' too.

Re:Right.

[cyb97]

Cyanid is healthy too. Actually it's really healthy. It's eating too much of it and not balancing your diet that does bad things to you (but most people ignore that).

Re:Right.

[Zordak]

Yes, but I once worked at a Whataburger when I was in High School, and I have refused to eat there ever since. I have never worked at a McDonald's, so I can still create for myself a false sense of trust in their level of cleanliness. Every time I see a Whataburger, I am flooded with unsanitary memories, and the thought of actually eating food there is no more acceptable than eating food amongst piles of cow manure.

Re:Right.

[slide-rule]

About that time frame, my then-local BK (North Florida area) did this. Still had the "plastic crap" and all that, but they brought the food to your table when it was done. Interesting experiment, but it didn't catch on. They went back to being a normal BK after maybe a couple months. People who blinked during that time frame missed out (aside from the TV commercials that were touting the new service while it was in effect).

Re:Right.

[CorprateSlave]

Methylphenidate = Ritalin
So you're a drugged up ADHD kid, who just happened to notice the weight loss side-benefit of the stuff?

Re:Right.

[Hognoxious]

...sometimes Pepsi One, which tastes good but has nasty chemicals, which you can prove by simply leaving it out in cold weather and watching it explode),

If by cold you mean below 273 kelvin, then a can of dihydrogen monoxide will do that. So apparently it's a very dangerous chemical too.

Re:Right.

[Corrado]

Hell, just build it into the table. Remember the MCP in Tron? Same thing - only without the "taking over the world" slant. Actually, it might have that slant too...

Re:Right.

[Tomble]

Hehe, I was going to say that too, except it occurred to me that perhaps he really did mean "explode" (in the exothermic reaction sense) and not just "burst". How would that happen? Haven't a clue, but you never know.

Fat?

[allanj]

Will their WiFi uplink connection be as fat as their "food"?

FAST food

[samoverton]

It was my understanding that MacDonalds like to get their customers out as quick as possible, so they don't take up the seating for too long. I have heard stories here in England of people being asked to leave during busy hours because they were taking too long finishing their drink or something similarly ridiculous.

I'm not sure how offering an hour of Wi-Fi access would help this, unless they expect us to stand outside and use it.

Re:FAST food

[TheRaven64]

Have you ever looked at the chairs in McDonalds? A lot of research went into the design of those chairs. They are intended to become uncomfortable after 10 minutes, to discourage people from staying too long. Sure you can get an hour of 'net access for $3, but after 20 minutes you aren't going to be able to stay in the chair unless you're so fat your nerves don't actually reach your skin...

ugh... grease all over the keyboard

[Anonymous Coward]

would you really want to get a thick shake all over your ibook, or lettice in your vaio keyboard?

Andyboy_H

Re:ugh... grease all over the keyboard

[Anonymous Coward]

yo momma wanted my thick load all over her face, so who knows?

Re:ugh... grease all over the keyboard

[PyroMosh]

While I don't think this is the the greatest thing since sliced bread or anything, I keep seeign people bringing this up in this story.

I eat at my desktop machine all the time. It's running without a case even (It's set up on a shelf one level under my keyboard, open-air). Oddly enough I never spill food or drink into my PC's delicate components.

I eat at fast food palces from time to time as well. Oddly enough, I've never had anyone eat over me either. Sure, kids may spill their drinks at other tables, but how exactly does that effect me if they're not getting it anywhere near me?

This is no better or worse than wifi in Starbucks or any other food service place.

I wonder...

[Anonymous Coward]

what Wesley Willis has to say about this.

Think of the lawsuits...

[Anonymous Coward]

Your kids can now get fat and surf porn at the same time. A lawyers dream come true

Re:Think of the lawsuits...

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe that should be "cum true".

MAC?

[janap]

Renders new meaning to the term MAC-address.

Re:MAC?

[DJPenguin]

I think you mean... McAddress? :)

Re:MAC?

[Lord Sauron]

Did someone say McAddress ?

Re:MAC?

[janap]

Yes, whole tables of them.
IP to McAdDressing.

Re:MAC?

[moonboy]

And of course you'll need your McIntosh to get a McAddress.

Re:MAC?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd like a Big McMAC and a side of Bluetooth.

Re:MAC?

[Santos L. Halper]

Mmmmmmmmm..... McAddress........

Re:MAC?

[G0dzzilla]

I wonder if they would consider selling Pringles [oreillynet.com] instead of fries (for the to go orders).

This is not ggod for the common health of geeks!

[Dri]

Sure, geeks will go on roadtrips a lot more often but what will happen to the geeks fat/calorie intake? If you get on hour of access for a combomeal you have to eat at least two (maybe alot more) meals. Slashdotting/eating/mailing do take time with sticky fingers on an IPAQ/.

The next time you walk into a McDonalds

[Anonymous Coward]

Be sure to ask the cashiers, managers and the person cleaning the restrooms if they truly "love to see you smile."

Re:The next time you walk into a McDonalds

[shepd]

Or, simply the surly person serving you if you can have a free smile.

I wouldn't order anything you can't watch being made if you do this.

Re:The next time you walk into a McDonalds

[RestiffBard]

um... we don't. Really, we don't care. I have no idea who those people in the commercials are. They've never worked at a McDonalds before I swear. Oh, and to dispel a myth. the guy cleaning the restrooms or sweeping the parking lot is often the highest paid non salary person in the store and gets better benefits and actually works less. most days I just do the crossword then go home.

Any filters?

[Anonymous Coward]

Can you say McPorn?

Re:Any filters?

[Dri]

Greasy fingers, sick pr0n and nothing but geeks! Geez, I certainly hope that this is far away in sweden or I will definetly boycott MCD.

Re:Any filters?

[TheRaven64]

Take your kids to McD's, where they can eat fatty food and look at porn over the shoulder of one of the other customers!

Hmmm...

[E-Rock-23]

A few things:

1) Anyone worried about greasy keypads? We all know how Micky Dees burgers are often dripping with grease. If some inept user were to eat with his laptop open, or even any user trying to type after a meal...

2) Some McDonald's don't want patrons staying for more than a half hour (case in point, McDonald's in the North Side of Pittsburgh). Would that policy be changed if you get an hour of access with an Extra Value Meal?

3) Would they have to change their slogan to "Over 1 Billion Geeks Served?"

And finally, 4) If a ton of geeks started patronizing the place at once, would that created a sort of inverted Slashdot effect?

I like the idea, personally. More power to them ^-^

Re:Hmmm...

[EvilTwinSkippy]

3) Would they have to change their slogan to "Over 1 Billion Geeks Served?"

No, no, it would be either Gigabytes and Gibabytes served, or Over 1 Gigageek Served.

Re:Hmmm...

[EvilTwinSkippy]

2) Some McDonald's don't want patrons staying for more than a half hour ...

I'm actually working with a local coffee shop in Philly to set up Wifi access. We are using custom software that will cut people after 2 hours, and turns the access off when the place it busy at night. She just didn't want to turn the place into a giant office.

Re:Hmmm...

[Anonymous Coward]

4) If a ton of geeks started patronizing the place at once, would that created a sort of inverted Slashdot effect?

No I think after eating any amount of McDonalds if anything there would be an extroverted slashdot effect to the washrooms. Its hard to keep all that grease down....

Re:Hmmm...

[dr_dank]

2) Some McDonald's don't want patrons staying for more than a half hour (case in point, McDonald's in the North Side of Pittsburgh). Would that policy be changed if you get an hour of access with an Extra Value Meal?

The policy in most metropolitan McD's is this: Overstay your half hour => Be fed to the Grimace

Re:Hmmm...

[sporty]

Since other comments responded to 2,3 and 4. I guess I have to take 1.

1) Anyone worried about greasy keypads? We all know how Micky Dees burgers are often dripping with grease. If some inept user were to eat with his laptop open, or even any user trying to type after a meal...

That is what the convenient and sanitary McBathrooms are for. Maybe they'll give out wet-knaps as well.

Re:Hmmm...

[garcia]

1. I already have a greasy keyboard from eating pizza, steak, burgers, and fries. I also have spilled coke and other random beverages on my keyboard (to respond to another poster).

2. You're right, McD's doesn't have a public pay phone for this exact reason -- no loitering. Does that mean that they don't want to attract more and more people in the sector of business for lunches? If I had WiFi at McD's I might be more inclined to actually eat there (until Boston Market or Wendy's got WiFi).

3. No.

4. It would be an interesting place for a /. Meetup...

Re:Hmmm...

[kcelery]

The business of MacDonald have declined, possibly influenced by the mad-cow-disease. Such decline had reflected in the stock price. The Wi-Fi stuff might be an attent to keep more customer in.

Anyway, does anybody know what artificial flavoring is added to the beef of the burger. Whenever I walk by a Mac, it smells like roasted beef. Such smell just linger far outside of the building, so it must be additives.

Re:Hmmm...

[Anonymous Coward]

Your customer may want to reconsider her attitude. Attitudes like that are the reason chains like Starbucks are where they are today.

Re:Hmmm...

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is she offering wifi? To get new customers? To keep customers? If she is turning off the connection during busy times that will drive users away from her establishment. Folks that need the access will seek out a reliable connection. (It's not just the net that routes around damage....) She's offering it like a video game in the corner -- entertainment only.

On the other hand, I would like to know more about what software you are using.

Re:Hmmm...

[thesolo]

I'm actually working with a local coffee shop in Philly to set up Wifi access. We are using custom software that will cut people after 2 hours, and turns the access off when the place it busy at night. She just didn't want to turn the place into a giant office.

Hrmm, I live in Philly, curious if you can disclose the name of this coffee shop?
By the way, I'm pretty sure I met you before at the F.I. :)

Re:Hmmm...

[EvilTwinSkippy]

Half the city has met me at the FI, I run the network there.

The shop is the Crimson Moon Coffee House, 20th and Sansom. I am still in negotiations with them, but ETA is about a month from now.

Re:Hmmm...

[EvilTwinSkippy]

She is trying to cater to the daytime laptop crowd. She has noticed that everyone and their maiden aunt Sue seem to be lugging laptops around.

At night (after 8 or so) on the other hand, the place is packed, so the last thing she wants is for the place to turn into an anti-social everyone behind a screen type of place. She is trying to find a balance between making technology convienent and having it completely change the character of her establishment.

The software by the way runs under the Tclhttpd, MySQL, and a few watchdog scripts in the crontab.

The webserver modifies the MySQL database, and the changes are picked up by a monitor daemon that passes commands to iptables. Everyone in the store gets an RFC1918 address, and (if they are paid up) they can route to the internet using IP Masquerading. Since the software runs as a website, the counter person just logs onto the "gateway", and sees a list of who is plugged into the network (information I sift from the dhcp leases.) From there he/she can activate or deactivate connections manually. By default an activated connection will be programmed to time out after a set period of time, enforced by a cron job that checks every 5 minutes or so.

Patrons can look at the same website and see how long they have left, and the menu.

I'm playing with the new(er) toys in the kernel that let you filter by MAC number. Failing that I'll just pull the mac numbers out of the DHCP leases, pair them with an IP address, and filter on that.

Naturally, since I'm building on GPL code, I will be releasing the source when it's finished on my website (http://www.etoyoc.com).

Re:Hmmm...

[Saeger]

I find it depressing that you're putting so much effort into limiting the wifi connection, when it's more efficient to simply ask the fat guy who's been sitting in the corner for five hours, to leave. What's the difference if he's using wifi, or reading the newspaper, or a book, or sleeping?

And more generally, ultimately it's wasted effort, since eventually wifi/OpenSpectrum will be more ubiquitous and uncontrollable than the (currently overpriced) cell networks which you'll have ZERO control over. Or, in that case... would you instead be selling proprietary-wifi-inside-a-faraday-cage service? :)

--

Re:Hmmm...

[EvilTwinSkippy]

...And more generally, ultimately it's wasted effort, since eventually wifi/OpenSpectrum will be more ubiquitous...

I look forward to that day. But while a DSL line runs $50+/month shop owners are going to want to make sure that the people who use it at least have to go to the counter and buy something. And nothing is worse for a coffee shop's atmosphere than to have it full of people (fat or thin) whose only sign of life is when the LCD backlight reflected off their face changes colors.

Why?

[Fastball]

Who goes to McDonald's with the intention of hanging out? Personally, I don't want to be seen or recognized when I'm plucking down a few dollars for some cardiac arrest food.

Re:Why?

[Sabalon]

Actually, I take my kids there on a Saturday morning from time to time so they can play.

I'm not worried too much about the food - neither of them eat enough to cause them much harm.

I'll spend an hour or two there talking to people or letting the kids play.

It's sad that McDonalds has better play equipment than the local parks.

Re:Why?

[thesolo]

I'm not worried too much about the food - neither of them eat enough to cause them much harm.

Actually, eating almost anything from McDonald's is pretty damn unhealthy. I recall reading in the food issue of AdBusters last year that the beef served at McDonalds is from cows that were killed between 10 and 14 months prior. The article then went on to pose the question (paraphrased) "Can you fathom the amount of coloring, preservatives, etc., that had to go into that meat so that it would keep for a year?"

As for the playgrounds at McDonalds, those playgrounds are a million dollar business. I know a guy who helps design those playgrounds, and he's absolutely loaded.

Re:Why?

[Anonymous Coward]

Adbusters is little more than propaganda fueled by militant anti-government anti-corporation whiny vegans. I don't listen to anything they have to say, and you don't either.

I'm all for free speech, but I don't enjoy having viewpoints shoved down my throat. Now go back to eating your bean curd, hippy.

Re:Why?

[Chanc_Gorkon]

Um...what chemicals? They have this neat device called a FREEZER! Frozen, most anything can easily last 3-4 Months(or even longer in a vacuum sealed package and frozen) In a freezer. And eating something that was in there longer isn't dangerous. It just does not taste as good as before. Also, I really doubt this is the truth. Sounds like you only read ONE source. If you were really concerned, you'd have taken the 5 minutes it took to do a google search and evidence to dispute it.

Re:Why?

[Sabalon]

Never ever have a cousin(-in-law) who is a resturaunt inspector.

I'm at the point, after hearing from him, that if I didn't kill the cow myself and convert it to a burger (mmmm....burger) then it's unhealthy.

Those playgrounds have come a long way from when I was a kid and I remember the local McD putting one in. It was a couple of the McD characters in various forms - a mayor mccheese you could climb up in, the fry guys that rocked back and forth on a spring and a couple other things. And I thought it was cool.

The story

[shayborg]

McDonald's to Offer Wireless Internet

The Associated Press
Mar 11 2003 12:09AM

NEW YORK (AP) - Would you like super-sized Internet access with that burger and fries?

In a further sign of the spread of wireless Internet technology, McDonald's restaurants in three U.S. cities will offer one hour of free high-speed access to anyone who buys a combination meal.

Ten McDonald's in Manhattan will begin offering wireless WiFi, or 802.11b, Internet access on Wednesday, McDonald's spokeswoman Lisa Howard said.

By year's end, McDonald's will extend the access to 300 McDonald restaurants in New York City, Chicago and a yet-unannounced California town, Howard said.

"You can come in and have an extra value meal and send some e-mail,'' Howard said. Window signs will alert customers to the restaurants with WiFi access, she said.

Besides McDonald's, Internet surfers will also be able to tote their laptops to 400 U.S. Borders book stores, hundreds of hotels and a pair of U.S. airports where WiFi access will be available by summer, companies announced Monday.

And computer maker Toshiba and chipmaker Intel say they'll set up wireless ``hot spots'' in coffee shops, hotels and convenience stores across the United States.

For those who roost with their laptops in McDonald's, Internet surfing could affect the waistline.

After using the hour of free access that comes with a meal, customers can pay $3 for another hour online - or simply buy another extra value meal, Howard said. The pilot program lasts for three months, she said.

Cometa Networks, a startup working to offer WiFi connections in businesses across the country, will provide the Internet bandwidth for the offer.

McDonalds' announcement coincides with several related WiFi developments timed to coincide with the Wednesday release of Intel Corp.'s Centrino microprocessor.

The Centrino chip, tailored for laptop computers, contains a built-in WiFi transceiver that allows Internet access at speeds of up to 11 megabits per second, far faster than dial-up connections. More than a dozen computer makers will introduce new Centrino-based laptops on Wednesday.

Hilton, Mariott, Sheraton, Westin and W hotels will tout wireless access points in hundreds of hotels in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany.

And access will also be extended to passenger lounges at the airports in Dallas-Fort Worth and San Francisco, Intel said.

---

It's a good idea. I've been waiting for someone other than Starbuck's to put it into practice.

-- shayborg

I can hear...

[borgdows]

*Ronald voice* You have new mail!

Re:I can hear...

[r00t_ur_b0x]

Or how about "You've got a blocked artery!"

Re:I can hear...

[sharkey]

*Ronald voice* You have new mail!

"Do you believe in MASQing?"

How does this benefit me?

[hungfarlow]

I don't patronize McDonald's on principle even if the food is crap. Will all the ./'s be able to to use it after they finish their shifts? or will they be too tired from repeating "would you like fries with that?" all day?

Re:How does this benefit me?

[Quill_28]

Who cares if it benefits you.

The point is about a major chain offering Wi-Fi.

Let's think, if McDonalds is offering it and it does well then maybe others will follow suit.
Wi-Fi could become very common. To most people this is news.

Sorry neither the world nor slashdot revolves you and your ego.

Re:How does this benefit me?

[pgh_raver_dave]

Don't you know how leaky these things are? There is no doubt you could get a signal from across the street. This means just another wireless hotspot added to the urban landscape. Soon, everyone will have wireless internet access as long as they're inside city limits.

Re:How does this benefit me?

[Chundra]

I don't patronize McDonald's on principle even if the food is crap.

Yeah, no kidding. Me, I love crap. I crave it several times a day, but there's something that irks me about McDonalds. I suspect their crap isn't 100% pure crap. Or maybe it's that creepy clown.

Finally, something for adults!

[CTD]

I've got kids.

It sometimes snows in Chicago, or gets darn cold. Especially in the winter.

At which point I am quite happy that there is a McDonalds down the street with a playland. I can take the kids there and cut them loose for an hour or so to burn off their energy. It's a great thing.

McD has been very family orientated for quite some time now, giving us a place to let our brats romp about, while we eat a McCoronary and pass the time. Having the ability to hook up to the net while my kids are going down the static electricity slide is a great thing. I'll be able to do something that entertains me, if I can ignore the screaming of the kids.

Re:Finally, something for adults!

[IIRCAFAIKIANAL]

I'll be able to do something that entertains me, if I can ignore the screaming of the kids.

I recommend earplugs. Or a shotgun.

(No, just fire it into the air, scare em a little. What did you think I meant, you psychos?)

Re:Finally, something for adults!

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes. By all means get that web surfing in.

You'd hate to be distracted from doing other things ... like watching your kids.

Re:Finally, something for adults!

[CTD]

Dude, that would imply responsibility as a parent.

Here in the United States I trust the government to think for me.

Actually, my wife comes along, and has no interest in surfing the internet, so I'm covered quite well. I usually bring something to read and she tells me when one of the youngest ones is stuck at the top of the playland. At which point I climb in and "rescue" my children.

I know it made you feel all super and cynical to find a way to say I'm a crappy parent. Sorry, I'm not. Enjoy your day anyway.

Re:Finally, something for adults!

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't let your kids inside those playgrounds... I used to clean those things every few months or so and they are absolutely disgusting...

Re:Finally, something for adults!

[slothdog]

Having the ability to hook up to the net while my kids are going down the static electricity slide is a great thing.

You actually bring up a good point. I can just picture myself about to send the One Perfect Email, when my kids run over fresh off the slide. "Whatcha doin' dad?" *ZAP* "Er, nothing now."

Re:Finally, something for adults!

[janap]

I recommend earplugs. Or a shotgun.

A McMuffler perhaps?

Re:Finally, something for adults!

[Sabalon]

ya know...kids don't need an eye on them 24x7. They can function on their own. Once they get to around 3 and become more social, they play in little groups and keep each other entertained.

Usually as long as there is no screaming (or no dead silence) they are having fun (actually, they think screaming is fun too)

Besides, parents talk to one another and their eyes are already not always on their kids.

Re:Finally, something for adults!

[Sabalon]

My daughter came down with something in her mouth once. She said "I found a red m&m and a blue m&m." She holds out her hand showing me the red m&m.

I was very disgusted. Then again, kids eat dirt and god knows what else. Yeah...it's disgusting to think about, but it probably won't kill them so it's best not to think about it to much.

Re:Finally, something for adults!

[mbbac]

Aren't you supposed to supervise your rugrats?

Re:Finally, something for adults!

[swillden]

Then again, kids eat dirt and god knows what else. Yeah...it's disgusting to think about, but it probably won't kill them so it's best not to think about it to much.

Let me guess: your daughter is your first child.

The Progression of a Parent

First child: When the pacifier falls on the kitchen floor, the parents pick it up, wash it off with soap and hot water, boil it for 10 minutes to sterilize, and then carefully dry and cool it before giving it to the child.

Second child: When the pacifier falls on the floor, the parents wash it with soap and water before giving it back to the child.

Third child: When the pacifier falls in the dirt, the parents brush it off before giving it back to the child.

Fourth child: When the pacifier falls in the dirt, the parents do nothing, figuring that given all of the the dirt, rocks, mud and toilet water the older children consumed without obvious harm, a little extra won't hurt.

Re:Finally, something for adults!

[cyb97]

or to quote Denis Leary:
"I'm trying to bring them up the right way. I'm not spanking them. I find that I don't have to spank them; I find that waving the gun around pretty much gets the same job done."

Re:Finally, something for adults!

[Anonymous Coward]

Or a shotgun. (No, just fire it into the air, scare em a little. What did you think I meant, you psychos?)

I can see it now: PIPE DOWN OR THE CLOWN GETS IT!

Re:Finally, something for adults!

[Nick Harkin]

hehe....... you must have felt like you were in the matrix there... being offered the Red and Blue pill. ;)

Re:Finally, something for adults!

[Sabalon]

Yup. I've climed up in there and it is nasty, but oh well.

That is true though - with the first one everything was super steril. With the second one it was more along the lines of "If it's not green, it must be clean"

nice karma whoring. but

[Anonymous Coward]

i doubt that aol.com is going to be slashdotted. you must be new here...

Re:nice karma whoring. but

[UncleFluffy]

i doubt that aol.com is going to be slashdotted.

We're working on it...

Re:nice karma whoring. but

[ncc74656]

i doubt that aol.com is going to be slashdotted. you must be new here...

For those who'd rather not give AOHell the click, it's useful if someone copies it here.

(Not that it matters too much from work, though, where I've set up a transparent ad-filtering proxy...)

Re:nice karma whoring. but

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know what's more sad...

For those who'd rather not give AOHell the click, it's useful if someone copies it here.

...the fact that you consider it a moral duty not to visit any AOL sites...

(Not that it matters too much from work, though, where I've set up a transparent ad-filtering proxy...)

...or the fact that you set up a proxy just to filter out advertisements that you would otherwise ignore.

Re:nice karma whoring. but

[shayborg]

i doubt that aol.com is going to be slashdotted. you must be new here...

I was under the impression I wasn't the only person who likes to read the full article without having to follow a link -- and that to AOL to boot. My bad.

-- shayborg

For those not in the US

[Boss, Pointy Haired]

An hour of access per combo meal. Additional hours can be purchased for $3

Which is no more than 2 BigMac's.

Re:For those not in the US

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean two Royales with Cheese.

Re:For those not in the US

[Anonymous Coward]

Royale with Cheeses?

Bigs Mac?

god help me

McDonald's does what now?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh yeah... they are a fast food joint. Seriously, this is IMHO a good idea because it actually offers something people would want. McDonalds has of course been having issues recently and what is their response? Stupid commercials that make me want to throw my TV out the window (I fortunately rarely watch stations that play that "I want a salad" jingle).

McDonald's business model seems to have been based on growth and expansion thus leading to problems when they were doing very well as far as daily business goes yet were not opening up as many new stores as previously. Then of course I am willing to be they have their fair share of middleman bloat that was not only eating up revenue but creating the chokepoint of quick and efficient (and valid) decisions needed in any business as spreadout as they are. Bureaucracy happens to anyone not vigilant. (Hint: an organization without the implementers does not exist, while a group of implementers without a manager will naturally turn out a good amount of efficiency and might even come up with a decision chain and infrastructure on their own) Managers just appointed simply because they are older, or know the right people or the right buzz words are the most dangerous thing to productivity and profit. However those that actually place them in are not good businessmen and simply are riding on a welfare system.

Coverage

[itsnotme]

One thing this will be good for is coverage. There are a lot of mcdonalds out there, all of us dont want to admit it, but there's one too many mcdonalds out there. And if all are hooked up into wifi then thats just going to bring more internet to the masses, and bring internet to the masses who want to be able to read the news with their meal.

So this is not necessarily a bad thing, but I wish they'd bring it to some other fast food places with some better meals.

Already a lawsuit in the wings

[adzoox]

I can see the lawsuits now:

Spilled hot coffee - melted my keyboard; shorted my laptop

Greasy fingers from French Fries caused marks on screen & keys devaluing laptop

Internet access points were under heat lamps causing data not to be secure

Re:Already a lawsuit in the wings

[sonicsft]

Actually AFAIK the so called keyboard prints can cause permanent dammage to the "polarizer" layer of the screen. If you don't keep the screen clean(and possibly the keyboard too) then you may find yourself looking at a replacement laptop screen or if your lucky enough to find a place that will do it a replacement polarizer layer.

-sonic

Re:Already a lawsuit in the wings

[sharkey]

Spilled hot coffee - melted my keyboard; shorted my laptop

Which then zapped my genitals. There should have been a warning on the cup that said it contained liquids that were harmful to my laptop!

Re:Already a lawsuit in the wings

[ncc74656]

Actually AFAIK the so called keyboard prints can cause permanent dammage to the "polarizer" layer of the screen. If you don't keep the screen clean(and possibly the keyboard too) then you may find yourself looking at a replacement laptop screen...

That's why you don't touch the screen, you don't let anyone else touch the screen...and if some moron from accounting sticks a Post-It on your screen, you hunt the bitch down and pump her full of lead. :-)

Even cleaning (with anything more than a soft cloth) isn't that great for a monitor. The anti-glare coating on the monitor that came with my Apple IIe developed a bit of a semi-gloss appearance after 5 years or so of cleaning the dust off with Windex. Now I just use a dry paper tissue to wipe the dust off, whether it's a CRT- or LCD-based display (though it's CRTs that tend to attract more dust).

So anyone can connect to this lan?

[gmuslera]

This could be harmful for McDonalds. What if a customer says something like "Its full of worms" talking about Klez?

Live at McDonalds

[BinBoy]

Technically there is now no reason to ever leave McDonalds.

Re:Live at McDonalds

[EvanTaylor]

Hard to bathe in them, especially considering how dirty they are to begin with. But this is /., not many here probably care about such things.

Re:Live at McDonalds

[cdrudge]

Moist Towelette?

Re:Live at McDonalds

[spacefrog]

Technically there is now no reason to ever leave McDonalds.

Well, unless you count the lack of a shower..

No, wait, this is slashdot

unless you count having someplace private to bring a girl..

No, wait, this is slashdot

Oh never mind

Re:Live at McDonalds

[Anonymous Coward]

Unless you don't mind fucking the chick in the bathroom.

*whiny simpsons teenager voice*

[Rosonowski]

Sir, would you like an IP with that order?
Should I super-size your bandwidth?

Honestly, I'm wondering what the training implications of this will be.

a new kind of NIC ?

[marcomuskus]

-Excuse me lady, i want more ketchup.
-Oh ! Yeah boy take that and a NIC for yer PS2.

JAJA !

War Chalking

[xanadu-xtroot.com]

Are we going to see a new symbol for war-chalking in that PDF that goes around? Will Mikie D's integrate it into their current symbols? You just know the restaurants will be covered in less than a week's time, if this idea sees the light of day...

Re:War Chalking

[EvilTwinSkippy]

I'm seeing a new symbol with a pair of arches personally...

Re:War Chalking

[Battle_Ratt]

Great, a Wardrive through. What will they think of next?

Would you like.....

[torre]

A static or Dynamic IP with that? Remember... a smile is free!

desperate

[Anonymous Coward]

They really are getting desperate to get customers. It's been well known in the UK for some months now that they are losing money hand over fist.

This seems like the last desperate death throws of 80s crap food.

Awesome

[jimmy_dean]

Wow, this is way cool. That means I can now take my Dell Axim PDA and check slashdot at McDonalds!

Re:This is not ggod for the common health of geeks

[Anonymous Coward]

This is not ggod for the common health of [..]"

It think you're having a stroke right now, as a matter of fact. Gett yurself to a doktor, quik!

the marketing possibilities are endless!

[hrbrmstr]

The Access Point Burger

Two all-beef patties lettuce, tomato and special sauce with a pair of fries sticking out from the top at either end

WANBurgler Special - A.K.A. The Unhappy Meal

An edible, fiber optic light source on the burger (yes, they make edible fiber optic light sources) shines when it detects kismet or netstumbler scans during your WiFi session

Sounds

[Timesprout]

like an opportunity for a lot of sacked dot commers to say they work in IT again

Frivolous Lawsuit, GOGOGOGOGO!

[curtisk]

Lets see I can sue McDonalds because I'm fat, now to compound my lack of self discipline, not only will I be gorging myself on your food, but you'll be next to holding me in my seat since I can now web browse on my fat ass while eating your happy meals, and if I'm not done online, well, serve up another happy meal! You made me eat them to stay online!!

In seriousness though, how soon you think it will be until some kids are browsing rotten.com or something like that in McDonalds, in sight of other patrons....what type of filtering will they enforce? That could be a legit. reason for a lawsuit

Rotten Ronnie's

[Hellraisr]

I'm sure they'll give you a watered down version of the internet via a mandatory web portal complete with coupons and advertisements

Its a microsoft plot, of course

[JeanBaptiste]

They want to silence the slashdot crowd. So, free internet access with a big mac, who does that target? people like us... make us get fat and die, no more MS bashing.

Next they will announce 'free' broadband for a week with the purchase of a carton of smokes.

Re:This is not ggod for the common health of geeks

[geeber]

Yes, and I am sure that, until McDonalds offers wireless access, there won't be any geeks eating junk food with sticky fingers while surfing the internet.

"Until McDonalds came along, I didn't know where to get my empty calories while looking at pr0n. God bless them! Now, can I get some WiFries with that?"

Yes! Finally!

[bjkoning]

Now I can download pr0n and ph/fat food at the same time!

Nice...

[djupedal]

Now if they'd offer hot showers and bunks, I'm all set.

Re:Nice...

[Anonymous Coward]

You shower?!?! ;-P

Re:Nice...

[cyb97]

actually with all the pr0n you can watch on the internet today while munching away on your McFatty you'll end up needing a cold shower to get to grasps with reality after all the praawn

sarcasm

[tomzyk]

Additional hours can be purchased for $3... or another zillion calorie combo meal. Mmmm. Healthy.

Yeah really. They SHOULD be offering hour-access to a treadmill or exercise bike with the purchase of those combo meals. (Especially the meals that come with the half-liter of mayo on it.)

Sounds like a job for CowboyNeal

[Anonymous Coward]

There's one fella who can really multi-task a Mickey Dees.

Mechanism?

[devnullkac]

The article was light on detail, and I don't know enough about wireless, so I guess I'll ask the /. community: How will a cashier "give" you an hour of access? Will there be a code printed on your receipt? Is there an easy way for a user to configure his/her PC to gain access to an otherwise closed wireless LAN for a limited time? Or do I have to open my laptop at the counter and read off my MAC address (the people in line behind me would love that)?

Re:Mechanism?

[Obiwan Kenobi]

Since the article was fairly light, I'll give you a scenario:

You buy a meal from McDonalds. "Would you like Internet Access?" the 15 year old hottie asks you.

"Um...sure," you say, your laptop getting heavy on your shoulder.

She hands you a card (or perhaps its printed on the receipt). It has an IP Address, a subnet mask, and a gateway. Hopefully there would be instructions nearby, with settings for Macs, Win95 - WinXP.

They could specify IP addresses that are good for only one hour, and to keep up with the load they could also use different subnets. The NAT used in the router would take care of IP leasing issues, and there should be no DHCP (or else you'd get free 'net access just by turning on your laptop and WiFi card).

Sounds fairly simple to me, but the hype is probably louder than customers who actually want this.

Re:Mechanism?

[syle]

I think a more likely approach is a custom forwarding setup, like cablemodems do today. When I attach any new computer into the hub for cable access, I get a valid DHCP address right off the bat, but it won't forward any non-web packets, and all websites lead me to a page asking for a login and password.

I've seen variations on this theme at the university I attended and apartments I've stayed at. (1) It's a lot easier once the infrastructure is in place, and (2) McDonald's does NOT want to deal with 1000 customers who have no clue about how to type in their IP address, and (3) It would stay compatible with the other types of WiFi networks you commonly see (ie, no manually switching your settings as you enter or leave McD's).

Re:Mechanism?

[Galvatron]

Bingo. I was about to post a similar response, but you said it for me. They'll give you a card with, say, a 10 digit number, and you'll enter it into the login page in order to get access. MUCH simpler than fiddling with your settings.

Re:Mechanism?

[morcheeba]

Way too complicated for 99% of the people!! It would be much better to invest a little more smarts in the infrastructure considering the complete lack of tech support that'll be available at the stores. Consider this scenario:

Everything is DHCP-friendly, so people don't have to change their network settings. However, all things go through a proxy computer - when it detects a new MAC address, it will return the sign-in webpage for any page you request. Until you enter the PIN from your receipt or a credit-card number, that will be the only page you'll get. (Or, as a bonus, maybe they'll let you browse a couple of other specific pages for free.)

Heck, you could also have the proxy spoof the email, too. When your computer thinks its logging into your corporate mailserver, it's really just logging into the macdonalds computer... and, surprise, no matter what name/password you use, you'll have some new mail... with a link to the mcdonalds sign-in page, of course!

Re:Mechanism?

[danger42]

"Would you like Internet Access?" the 15 year old hottie asks you.

Um, you need to spend less time at the PlayLand and more time with adults. Sick bastard.

Re:Mechanism?

[Anonymous Coward]

Like their own menu or even on online orderig/choice system....

Re:Mechanism?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm a McD's corporate employee, but this is not official McD's info.... our internal email about this (and the presentation I saw last Monday) said there would be a scratch-off card, like a lottery card. Under the scratch-off is a user ID and password.

Re:Mechanism?

[Jetson]

How will a cashier "give" you an hour of access? Will there be a code printed on your receipt? Is there an easy way for a user to configure his/her PC to gain access to an otherwise closed wireless LAN for a limited time?

The typical solution is to have the firewall server connected to the cash register so that it can provide an access code (if the register is able to request one) or at least watch the receipt data and store unique items (register number, date/time and total purchase price) for later use. Each customer's purchase data is inserted into temporary storage and time-stamped for automatic removal.

The default firewall rule would redirect all outbound connections to the gateway machine. Your web browser would end up downloading the login page regardless of what URL you requested. The server-side script would validate your receipt information and give your IP address to the gateway manager script, which would match up the MAC and open the firewall for you. An hour later, the cleanup routine would expire your receipt and remove your MAC from the firewall.

Will you have to use...

[EvilTwinSkippy]

those funky Sun HME (Happy Meal) network boards?

Whew, good thing they made it to the kernel.

Microwaves

[buzzsport]

Every McDonalds i've ever been to has at least a half dozen microwaves to heat/reheat food. I have a problem with one at my house -- how are they going to shield them?

Re:Microwaves

[WaltFrench]

I'd guess that OSHA (and therefore, McD's) pays a bit more heed to escaped microwaves than you do. In the home, you generally don't know about, nor get very exposed to, leakage from the nuke oven. In the workplace, you have 8 hours of potential exposure per day.

You might want to consider trading in or upgrading the door seals on your microwave if it leaks enough to disrupt your WiFi. At least, make sure you keep your distance from it during operation.

Re:Microwaves

[Anonymous Coward]

Alot of industrial microwave ovens run at 915 MHz instead of 2450 MHz, the longer wavelength allows deeper penetration into the food.

Re:Microwaves

[RestiffBard]

actually, there are usually only two and they are called Q-ing ovens (industrial strength microwave) and reheating food is strictly verboten. What you want to watch for is how long the individual ingredients have been sitting in a heating cabinet. if your burger patty is as hard as your boot sole its been there for about an hour.

WTF. I've turned into a McApologist. I hate working there. I've lost my soul now...

Err..

[salimma]

... they expect me to soil my notebook's keyboard by typing on it with greasy fingers?

Then again there is the geek stereotype of dirty pale-faced guys munching on pizza. Me, greasy food and laptops do not go hand-in-hand.

Who do they think they are... Starbucks? :p

Re:Err..

[Anonymous Coward]

So you just dump out the Pringles? You don't eat them?

McDonalds and SCO

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't McDonalds running on SCO ?

Should we not thus boycott McDonald? Aren't you afraid of being pursued by SCO of using "their" technology to access the net without paying royalties?

McDonalds -> wireless -> SCO

Artaxerxes

Anything to avoid improving the food

[bill_mcgonigle]

I just hope the girl who can't figure out why I gave her $12.05 for a $6.55 lunch order isn't going to be responsible for getting the MAC of my Airport Card into the access control system.

Re:Anything to avoid improving the food

[Anonymous Coward]

She probably thought you were a fucking retard, and she'd be right. There's no reason to give $12.05 for a $6.55 order. $11.05, maybe, to get $5.50 in change.. but why the fuck did you give her an extra dollar only to have it handed right back to you?

I sure hope you're not responsible for anything complicated either.

Re:Anything to avoid improving the food

[Anonymous Coward]

Still can't do grade 4 math?? 6.55 + 5.50 = 12.05 not 11.05. Please go slit your wrists. The world will be far better off without someone so angry and so stupid.

Re:Anything to avoid improving the food

[brakk]

I try to avoid doing this for the same reason I avoid special ordering my sandwich: to lower the (insert random bodily fluid) content in my meal. I figure the less hastle I give them, the "cleaner" my food will be.

Re:Anything to avoid improving the food

[buckthorn]

At least she's a 15 year old hottie, as mentioned earlier. Always wanted an excuse to hang about the restaurat and scope out the female cashier population.

Of course, surfing about on your laptop for an hour hurts your chances with them even more, if such a thing is possible for folks like us. *sigh* "Eye candy with that, sir?"

Re:Anything to avoid improving the food

[Anonymous Coward]

You're a fucking idiot. Use a calculator.

Re:Anything to avoid improving the food

[littlejess]

Ah, but if you order your sandwich "plain" you can a) be sure that it's been freshly made, as opposed to having sat there since it was made several hours before (that's why you have to wait if you special order) and b) you can see if there's anything on it.
That, and I don't like mayo.

Re:Anything to avoid improving the food

[Anonymous Coward]

You should have used RPN!

Re:Anything to avoid improving the food

[Anonymous Coward]

The McDs around here hire some of the most unattractive jailbait available. They're usually working in higher profile family-style restaurants.

Re:Anything to avoid improving the food

[Anonymous Coward]

you can see if there's anything on it.

Dream on. Spit is easily absorbed/hidden by anything moist, fried, or deep fried.

Also recalling high school memories... Harder to do during a lunch or dinner rush, but late at night I also enjoyed wiping my armpit with a fresh clean bun for those special customers. "The bun is moist? Oh, that's just condensation from your freshly cooked sandwich." Enjoy.

Re:Anything to avoid improving the food

[Anonymous Coward]

I've posted elsewhere in this conversation as well. As a McD's corporate HQ employee, I've wandered around in some of the kitchens, and know how the "Made for You" process works in the US.

It is no more work for the kitchen to make your Big Mac without pickles than it is to make it with pickles; they just make what the video screen says either way. None of the sandwiches are premade.

A fridge too far

[mrbuckles]

Homer: I'm looking for something loose and billowy, something comfortable for my first day of work.

Salesman: Work, huh? Let me guess. Computer programmer, computer magazine columnist, something with computers?

Homer: Well, I use a computer.

Salesman: Yeah, what's the connection? Must be the non-stop sitting and snacking.

Liability

[Wino]

Any guesses on how long it will take for someone to figure out a way to sue McD's over this? (remember coffee lady?)

'Boy sues McDonalds Corporation for development of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome while using it's WiFi Internet connection.'

Ahem

[LHN]

I will have a combo number 3, super sized, with coke, wifi access, and 50 individually wrapped smiles please. Asking for individually wrapped smiles is fun :)

What billing mechanism?

[stroudie]

I just wonder what the billing mechanism will be for this service.

The article seems to suggest that the billing will be done on a per-burger basis i.e. you buy your burger, you get a little card with a pin# on it, and you then connect to the LAN.

This seems to suggest an anonymous means of surfing (all for the cost of a burger) - an approach that would land McD's in difficulties within hours of launching the service.

The other approach is a 'customer-registration' service, and I for one am not sure I need McD's to know where I (burger-swilling-geek that I am) live.

Re:What billing mechanism?

[psyconaut]

Just what I was thinking too...

I bet, for the pilot program, they'll just give you the WEP key or something if you ask for it with your combo.

It'll be interesting war-driving through MacDonald's drive-thrus now ;-)

-psy

would you like...

[GldisAter]

... some slashdot with your grease on a bun?

Enforcing the 1-hour rule

[shessel]

I'm going out on a limb here, but I'd like to know how McD's plans to enforce the 1-hour rule. Set the DHCP lease time for 1 hour? Since the average McDonald's employee may/may not be knowledgeable in renewing leases, I'd imagine an app would need to be written to automate the process.

Or maybe I've got it all wrong. Could someone briefly elaborate?

Re:Enforcing the 1-hour rule

[Anonymous Coward]

McDonalds writes their own POS software, so my suspicion it will be built into the POS system to sell it, and the ISP (in store processor), which runs SCO Unix (last I checked) will handle the firewall and dhcp.

My suspicion is that when someone buys Internet access, they are given an access code. And when you first try to get onto the internet, you have to type in the code. Then the ISP enables a firewall for the McAddress (mac address) you have. When the time is up, your record is deleted in the firewall and you have to re-enter an access code.

Think IPTables -m mac --match-mac 00:00:00:00:00:00 -i eth0 -j ACCEPT

Re:Enforcing the 1-hour rule

[Anonymous Coward]

All the people here wondering how the McD's clueless cashiers will run this system need not worry. They will purchase (or build) a system that integrates into the sales terminals, and will require no intervention, or understanding, from the employees.

Re:This is not ggod for the common health of geeks

[Dri]

.. can I get some WiFries with that?

*lol* You can take this to the extremes...

Get a Shake while you Quake!

Now I'll just get BIGGER! /sigh

[Bandman]

Damn them for making me want to eat there! At least BK has the veggie-burger(slogan: You're almost guaranteed not to get e.coli), but the healthiest thing McD's has are those garden shakers. Oh well, back to BigMacs and fakeShakes.

Re:Now I'll just get BIGGER! /sigh

[legojenn]

I've had McVeggie Burgers in the UK and Canada. The UK one was better. It is goopy though.

Whats next McWebHosting?

[buddha1975]

Could give a whole new meaning to 20 Billion served.

don't have kids

[prisoner]

do you?

Re:don't have kids

[cyb97]

just get some of them McKids when ordering your McCoronary

Dumpster diving for Wi-Fi

[Uninvited Guest]

When I was in high school, a local library had hard-copy teletypes for a state-wide university network. Frequently, users would type their passwords at the wrong time, and it would show up on the tape. Some of my friends (not me, of course) would root through the trash to get the passwords and login to chat on the state network. At the time, there was no dialup access within financial reach of a teenager --and certainly not for chat sessions.

I can already see the same thing happening at McDonalds, as teens without broadband at home search through the trash bins and dumpsters to get the access codes for a few more hours of free, high speed Internet.

Re:Dumpster diving for Wi-Fi

[Anonymous Coward]

Mod parent up interesting. If they print a code on every receipt for every combo meal, you could surf non-stop for free.

Re:Dumpster diving for Wi-Fi

[NaDrew]

I can already see the same thing happening at McDonalds, as teens without broadband at home search through the trash bins and dumpsters to get the access codes for a few more hours of free, high speed Internet.

Trust me... you do NOT want to go dumpster diving behind the McD.

Re:yes! ;-)

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, do you have any more original insults like that?

although you probably ment the last line in jest

[512k]

it could be the truth..they might say, take your laptop back to your car, and use it there. Of course this fills up the parking lot, which isn't a problem in a suburban McDonalds, but in downtown NYC or Chicago there isn't any parking..who knows what they're going to do.

Drive through?

[WPIDalamar]

Can I go through the drivethrough, park in the lot, and get access?

Who goes to McDonalds?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who goes to McDonalds to eat?

I have only been twice in my whole life. And it was when I was kid.

Food is crap. Waiters are crap. Service is crap.

I prefer to go to a local pub/bar/caffe and have a talk with my friends in a quiet/healty/noiseless place.

Re:Who goes to McDonalds?

[Anonymous Coward]

where i am at, in southern cali, a bigmac meal costs close to $6.00.. for about 2 dollars more I can get a REAL meat/chicken sandwich and a drink...

Re:Who goes to McDonalds?

[s10god]

I agree with you.... never trust a place that cooks a burger in a converted SHIRT PRESS!
But here in Florida (tourist town) there is NO SUCH THING as a Diner....

Maybe the aliens will kidnap all the Slashdot readers and insert WIFI nodes in thier anus like in South Park.....

Like we need more....

[Elpenor]

... Fat geeks in this world... ;)

Elp

Re:This is not ggod for the common health of geeks

[TheRaven64]

WiFi isn't that secure at the best of times, and AOL's track record in that area isn't too good either. I suspect that we will start to see a lot of geeks sitting outside McDonalds, where they won't get so many small children to spill coke on their laptops.

Considering

[notext]

It seems as though it is only being initiated in the near term in large metropolitan locations(NYC, Chicago, and some Cali city), I really don't see it helping roadtrips much.

I guess its for those few people who can't stand to be disconnected for their entire lunch break?

Personally, I already get annoyed enough by cell phones while I am eating, I'm really not looking forward to "You've Got Mail!!" being broadcast constantly.

mcdonalds food

[chunkwhite86]

If McDonalds food wasn't so horribly disgusting (I haven't eaten there since 1997), I might have been excited about this announcement.

Just an FYI to all you "Mickey-Dee's" fans out there... I had a buddy who used to work there. (This was before they microwaved all the burgers to cook them) I went to visit him one day and he let me in the back where the "cooks" are. There was a big pack of burger meat patties sitting on a table. They were stamped in large purple letters on the top: "USDA GRADE D, BUT EDIBLE".

I'm sure most fast food places use the same beef. BTW, "Grade D" means it contains all the parts you don't want to know about. Hooves, brains, kidneys, genitals, elbows and knees, snouts, etc. That is fucking disgusting.

After seeing that sign, I never ate there again. Think about that next time you're scarfing down that next big mac.

Re:mcdonalds food

[Latent IT]

Personally, I find it odd that it would be stamped that, since beef is graded as follows:

Prime, Choice, Select, Standard, Commercial, Utility, Cutter, and Canner.

Eggs and Poultry are graded with letters, but hey. Poultry only goes to C, of course.

You even provide a definition of Grade D beef! That's so nice of you! Really impressive, too, since it doesn't exist.

Educate yourself.

And stop pretending, and spreading your bullshit, okay?

Re:mcdonalds food

[Anonymous Coward]

Where does it say that the brains and testicles are from cows??

Re:mcdonalds food

[chunkwhite86]

Personally, I find it odd that it would be stamped that, since beef is graded as follows: Prime, Choice, Select, Standard, Commercial, Utility, Cutter, and Canner. Eggs and Poultry are graded with letters, but hey. Poultry only goes to C, of course. You even provide a definition of Grade D beef! That's so nice of you! Really impressive, too, since it doesn't exist. Educate yourself. [usda.gov] And stop pretending, and spreading your bullshit, okay?

The grading you mention is only for the Marbling of the beef. There are many other scores to take into consideration. If you pulled your head out of your ass, you'd realize this.

http://meat.tamu.edu/beefgrading.html

The USDA officially rates beef according to the scale Prime, Choice, Good/Select, Standard and Commercial, although many been vendors may use the letter grades as "shorthand".

http://www.restorationfarms.com/image9.gif

Please see the above .GIF chart. It Clearly illustrates that Grade D beef does exist, and that it is formed from Utility, Commercial and Cutter beef.

There's just something about the sound of "utility beef" that just isn't appetizing. So enjoy your next big mac...

Ignorance is bliss, isnt it?

Re:mcdonalds food

[Anonymous Coward]

you are reading the restoration farms graphic incorrectly. The letters do not refer to the "grade". You need to get a grip, and just because you work at Arby's doesn't mean you should tell lies about McDonalds

Re:mcdonalds food

[Latent IT]

Yeah, Restoration Farms. They're the same as the USDA. And besides that, you're even reading the chart totally wrong.

I hope you're a troll, for your sake. Otherwise, you've got the ignorance market cornered. I bet you're real happy, though. =)

Re:mcdonalds food

[geekoid]

If you pulled your head out of your ass, you would be able to take a class on how to read a grid.

or another zillion calorie combo meal?

[ctimes2]

Would that be a peta-bite? ...oh... oh... I'm so sorry, I couldn't stop myself...

EOF detected

[phrantic]

... Who goes to McDonald's with the intention of hanging out? Personally, I don't want to be seen or recognized when I'm plucking down a few dollars for some cardiac arrest food.


EOF detected, after Who goes to McDonald's ....everything else ignored.


I gave up after I found that irrespective how much or how long I spent in the place I always felt hungrier when I left the place than when I first went in.

Wireless or CLUEless at McDonalds.

[bareman]

I can imagine the meeting...

McBoss: What can we do to increase business?
McGrunt: We could try making good food.
McBoss: You're fired!
McGrunt2: How about internet access?
McBoss: Now that's a good idea!

McD's has been looking to change image anyway

[Scodiddly]

Over the past few years McDonald's has tried one failed product/campaign after another, trying to lure adults back.

WiFi seems like a good attempt along those lines, although paying per-hour seems overly complicated. They don't sell the playland per hour, do they?

Re:McD's has been looking to change image anyway

[Loosewire]

ah yes but people dont stay there for ages beacuse the parents want to go when theyre done eating - so the service doesent get full with net access you could be there all day and only buy a small fries....

Who actually..

[DaLiNKz]

..would want to surf the net or irc while eating in a building full of moms screaming at their kids to take the fries outta their nose..? ...

International

[kruczkowski]

If this was impimented worldwide that would be great. When I go to Poland and Ukraine I like to eat at McDonalds for lunch becouse the are clean. And I know what i'm getting.

If I could walk into an Indian McDonands with my PDA and get food and check my email that would be the best thing for a traveler.

What about the left over minutes?

[Anonymous Coward]

An _hour_ of access?

It doesn't even take an hour for their alledged food to go through me...

Re:Don't forget...

[autojive]

French fries. Most fast food chains buy potatoes for less than 50 cents a pound and then turn around and sell it for almost more than 10 times that amount per pound.

Fast food companies have quite the raquet going...

What's next?

[archetypeone]

RF Tags in your Burgers? Bluetooth Shakes? or 802.11g Fries?

Has McDonald's truly thought this out?

[artemis67]

What about the pr0n issue? Do they want a bunch of people sitting in their restaurants looking at pr0n? No doubt they will be doing some content filtering.

OTOH, I can see McD's as the new hangout for Quakers. Instant catered LAN party, and the participants have to buy at least one burger an hour to keep playing.

Re:Has McDonald's truly thought this out?

[generic-man]

I can see McD's as the new hangout for Quakers. Instant catered LAN party, and the participants have to buy at least one burger an hour to keep playing.

I don't. Quakers are pacifists, and as such would not want to play video games that involve death and destruction.

That girl

[Cha$e]

For those of you not blocking ads, click reload on the linked-to story until you get the "I graduated in..." banner ad. The girl pictured at left is the same girl (the same picture, at that!) in those "Teenagers need families, too!" adoption billboards. I say if she graduated in 1993 or earlier (those are the only choices...), she probably doesn't need to be adopted :)

Re:That girl

[Anonymous Coward]

Ha ha. You look at ads. You fucking tool.

I have three different ad-blocking proxies installed, PLUS two levels of firewalls, PLUS Mozilla with JavaScript disabled. I am never, ever, exposed to ads.

This makes me feel 53% superior to you.

Lingering customers helps McDonalds

[NineNine]

I think that customers lingering in McDonalds will help quite a bit. A McDonald's "Meal" only stay with most people for under an hour, so after a really nasty dump, you're hungry again! If I were to stay there for 3 hours using their wireless, I could easily eat 4-5 combo meals and not gain a pound!

Re:Lingering customers helps McDonalds

[Scrumper]

The real question would be if the access will work in the crapper.

My pick up line

[gzenker]

Yeah, I'm a systems administrator.....for McDonalds.

McDonalds Restaurants

[waerloga01]

I've noticed many people commenting that the goal of McDonalds is to get you in, fat, and out as quickly as possible.
But I've noticed that McDoanalds has started making sitdown restaurants. (seems like something else taken off Demolition Man)
I think the WiFi idea in one of those woudln't be as bad where you probally won't have the manager glareing at you for sitting around for over 10 minutes.
(just my $0.02)

Easy to abuse?

[broothal]

We all know that spammers live in trailer parks and flips burgers at McDonalds to make money to buy new accounts when the old ones are nuked. Now, if you can get one our of IP for the price of a burger I expect all of McDonalds IP range to end up in SPEWS faster than you can say "do you want fries with that?" Any ideas how to avoid this?

McDonalds - the technology powerhouse

[theltemes]

I used to work for a consulting company that did tech support for McDonald's back office product. It was amusing to hear all of the craptastic ideas coming from their CTO. You should have heard the owner of the franchise stores bitch 3 years ago were told by HQ to upgrade from 2400 baud to 56K modems. If this ever comes to pass, it will only be at the franchise stores, but don't hold your breath.

Re:McDonalds - the technology powerhouse

[theltemes]

Correction - it will only be at the corporate stores. Most of the franchise owners wouldn't pull a dime out of their arse to save their own kids.

Re:McDonalds - the technology powerhouse

[acceleriter]

Yep. You can always tell the franchise stores. They're the ones that keep the ketchup and napkins behind the counter and want a quarter for an extra plastic tub of McNugget(TM) sauce.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

So now...

[TD_3G]

not only will you have mothers suing fast food chains for making their children fat (and yet fatter as they eat and then sit for a healty hour of internet browsing), but you'll have them suing that their precious youngsters are becomming massively depressed due to their growing addictions to the internet which McDonald's is only helping to feed. Not to mention if I ever find my dreamy computer geek girlfriend it will give me all the more reason to hide my stingy nature by saying, "Well McDonald's has WiFi!!!."

Re:This is not ggod for the common health of geeks

[Anonymous Coward]

there are these things called napkins. i know they may be a new technology but they really do work. they enable you to remove the grease from your fingers before typingor using your ipaq. also, when was the last time you ate 2 full meals within an hour? you should be smacked.

Which NY McDonalds'

[Anonymous Coward]

have access? It might be interesting to try it out, but the article doesn't say which ones have access.

MC Spam

[tmonkey]

Cool now I can get a McSpam, "oh can you super size that for me!!!"

This is fantastic!

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been saying McDonalds should do this for the past few months, I think it is a wonderful idea. I'll gladly take advantage of this, it'll be great while my daughter is in the playland.

Way to go McDonalds!

Oh, and all of you low IQ people out there that insist on making fat jokes about McDonalds, they do have healthy items too. This is America, you do have a choice as to what you order. Are you all also telling me that you don't eat any fast food ever? And that you never eat any high fat items? You must all be such physically fit people with wonderfully fit bodies. Oh, this is Slashdot, nevermind...

This could actually be very cool

[newsdee]

If you put all the "McD is fat/incompetent/dangerous for laptops" comments aside, it's a really neat idea.

Imagine this is distributed worldwide: Internet access for everybody! About time!

You have to buy a bigmac (you don't have to eat it though), and you get one hour of surf. It's cheaper than most European cybercafes...

Time limits?

[st0rmshad0w]

Ok, I don't know about the rest of you all but I've never been in a Mickey D's that didn't have a sign somewhere limiting you to 20 minutes to eat and leave... so they sell you an hour of access?

Plasma Menus

[Washizu]

I was in McDonalds the other day and the standard menus above the cashiers were replaced by hi def plasma screens with the menus printed on them. They also had ads running for their various food items. It looked fantastic, although I try not to eat there on principle.

It would be great if someone hacked into their wi-fi network and change the menu items to include more exotic items:

French Fries $2.49
Chicken Nuggets $3.99
Grimace Testicles $1.99

Re:Plasma Menus

[sharkey]

French Fries $2.49
Chicken Nuggets $3.99

• French Flies
• StrayCat McNuggets
• Filet'O'Fred

Re:Plasma Menus

[darc]

Wait, isn't there a problem with plasma screens burning in if the same image is displayed too long? Menus are.. Mostly static you know. Are you sure it wasn't LCD or something?

Re:Plasma Menus

[harborpirate]

I'm gonna connect the dots here to explain why the Grimace Testicles crack could show up should McDonalds proceed with this WiFi thing:

Next time look carefully at the plasma menu - you can see the mouse pointer.

Thus, each McD's with these plasma driven menus likely has a "menu server".

I'm thinking McD's would connect these same servers to their network. At the very least for menu/software updates.

Some cracker buys 14 big mac meals and stays in the joint until they've cracked the server and put "Big Crack" and other junk like that up there.

I can just see some old lady come up to the counter: "I'd like to try the Grimace Testicles please."

Re:Plasma Menus

[Washizu]

The thing about Grimace Testicles... you'd think they'd be big and purple. You couldn't be more wrong.

Re:ME TOO

[Anonymous Coward]

who dosent

Re: or even...

[Anonymous Coward]

You have a heart attack.

How will they controll this?

[mass2k]

will you get a password for the access point? cant you just sit in your car in the parking lot and utilize it without them knowing?

If you Super Size, do you get 802.11g?

[Lester67]

Just wondering? :-)

Why charge for it?

[CaptRespect]

I don't see thousands of people flocking to McDonald's to use their WI-FI network. Why not just set up the Wi-Fi let people use it as a perk for just being there. Don't force them to buy something first, that just complicates things. More often than not, if a peroson is in McDonald's (or around it) they will buy something.

Later if internet trafic became a problem then they could impliment a pay or buy something first model.

Kill Script Kiddies with Cholesterol

[txdadu]

I like the idea, can we put some in KFC as well?

Re:Kill Script Kiddies with Cholesterol

[m1chael]

until they become immune! hurry before it's too late!

I may actually go there more than once a year

[nomadicGeek]

I travel a lot. It would be great if they can get this even in podunk little towns. If it was the one sure place that I could get wifi access I would go there just for that.

I can see this being used by a lot of travellers and ultimately attracting a lot of customers. They just need to work on the menu so that I can get some business done without becoming a fat boy.

More than I need for checking e-mail ...

[PizzaFace]

... and I never buy the combo meal. I'll pass on the WiFi until they offer 30 minutes of it with the Dollar Menu.

the only people...

[m1chael]

who spend an hour at mcdonalds are the cool gangsta's that hang outside.

in other news mcdonalds have introduced instore keyboard degreasing for $5 or $3 with each combo mcfat meal for all the dooshs that type with one hand.

we have all seen "falling down"

[phrantic]

he was just pissed about the food...
Can you imagine what happens when he doesn't get good download speed....

joking apart though who will support this?

99.9% of slashdot can chomp on a burger, and sort out their ip settings (the other 0.1% will need to put the burger down), but what about those who can't do it, even if the put the burger down....

Wrong Crowd Goes to McD's (This Will Fail)

[openbear]

WiFi in McDonalds is going to fail. There is a HUGE difference in the average customer that goes to McDonalds vs. the average customer that goes to Starbucks. Fast-food like McD's is targeted mainly towards the poor, and how many of these people have wireless devices that could utilize WiFi (digital divide anyone)??? Even ignoring that fact, when was the last time you were in a McD's and thought "cool place, I think I'll break out my laptop and work for a while"???

As someone said earlier, it is just a poorly conceived publicity gimmick!

Re:Wrong Crowd Goes to McD's (This Will Fail)

[anderiv]

I disagree - try stepping into a McD's during the lunch hour in any major downtown in the country.

The place is swarming with executives.

Re:Wrong Crowd Goes to McD's (This Will Fail)

[openbear]

You have a point, but I have to disagree with you when you consider the big picture. What parentage of McD's are in populated "major downtowns"? Most of them are out in the suburbs or poor neighborhoods.

Compare this to just about any Starbucks during the day. I know the one in the West Village (Uptown in Dallas) is always busy with people who have laptops and coffee. Even the Starbucks in the suburbs (Irving, Addison, etc.) has a good population of WiFi users. Not to mention, a nice relaxing environment to hang out in.

Hell, Boston Market has a better chance of doing something like this. I just think that McD's is too low end of an environment to provide WiFi and have it be useful. The last thing I want is for other businesses to decide that WiFi is not worth it because of a poorly conceived publicity stunt by McDonalds.

Re:Wrong Crowd Goes to McD's (This Will Fail)

[Quill_28]

Hmm...

McDonald's is not for the poor. A family of four would cost at least $12, x30 days, that's $360 a month just for dinner! My food budget for a family of four is $280.
Rice and beans would feed a family of four for under $2. Maybe less.

But you are missing one important group of people.

Parents! Kids love McDonald's, you go to McDonald's let the kids run around in the playland, and get some work done on your laptop.

Now will the cost of putting wireless in McDonald be enough money to make it worth it, I don't know.

Re:Wrong Crowd Goes to McD's (This Will Fail)

[RestiffBard]

have you seen what we have on the menu lately? The fucking salad is like 5 bucks. Um.. poor people don't go to McDonalds, they can't afford it. Poor people go to Taco Bell. Also, the only cutomers we get are Marines, Squids, Construction Workers, and Executive contractors.

McWiFi to be a great success!

[stinkydog]

Think of it this way:

1. Cash Based internet access
2. Very anonymous (sit in the parking lot and surf)
3. Everyone from the mob to Alquida will be line up for a value meal
4. The best part is your could hack/extort/terror your way arourd for the rest of your life and never use the same acces point twice

Think about this next time someone in a white van gives you $10 to bring them out a value meal.

SD

New ThinkGeek T-Shirt required ...

[Demerara]

"Will eat fries for bandwidth"

and on the back:

"Wife and cardiologist to support"

This could be a liability

[pizzaman100]

Wait until the RIAA finds out that people are using the McDonalds wireless network to share music.

This could be a worse problem for them than that fat guy from New York

wifi in orlando

[arudloff]

Here in orlando Mc'ds is already wifi equipped, it shouldn't be to much more work for them to implement this.

They stand out in the streets with pda's taken your order while your in the drive through line. Makes things a hell of a lot faster.

In Taiwan

[SynKKnyS]

They already have this here in Taiwan. Every McDonalds in Taipei that I have been to has a WiFi AP up. Apparently, most IRC networks are blocked however.

future tired jokes....

[havardi]

"Would you like a drink with your order?"
"Yeah: CODE RED please.... AHAHAHAHAHA "
"*sigh* (another fucking slashdot wanker) Sorry sir we only carry Coca Cola products at McDonalds...."

UK wireless

[littlejess]

I wonder if that'll happen across the pond here in England as well... As far as I know, not many restaurants / airports / places in general are picking up on offering wireless yet. What with McDonalds introducing new, "healthier" menus in England recently, this could be another way of attracting people who otherwise wouldn't touch the big M with a barge pole... Did anyone notice my sneaky Back To The Future quot? Shame on me...

Re:UK wireless

[littlejess]

*quote
Yeah, I should have used the preview button

So the question is:

[No. 24601]

Would you like super-sized Internet access with that burger and fries? No comment. heh

Cool!

[Anonymous Coward]

Even being a vegetarian thats pretty cool. Now if only Starbucks would have a similar deal with their wifi (and maybe Taco Bell) I would be one happy camper. Viva la futura!

-AC

So the only question is:

[No. 24601]

Would you like super-sized Internet access with that burger and fries?

Burger King Did something Similiar

[VGMSupreme]

Back in NYC (and I am not sure if it is still there), Burger King gave you 1 hour of free internet access when you purchase a Combo Meal. They had the comptuer Terminals in the eating area. When you got your mean, you were given a code on a piece of paper. When you typed it in, the timer would start and you would only have an hour to do what ever websurfing you wanted to do. You could not CTRL+ALT+DEL you way through the computer, and all of the computer base were locked up (so some dumb idiot did not reset the computer or attempt to insert a virus into the computers).

This was a pretty good plan, and I had used it for a while, since I did not have to pay anything extra to get the service. What McDs is doing is ok, but someone could just walk away with the card when they were finished, since I never seen a staff person at McDs paid attention to anyone once they got their meal and walked away from the counter. (Hell, they don't pay attention when you are looking in their eyes, trying to tell them to NOT PUT CHEESE on your BigMac, not that I am upset or anything.)

I do not know much about how I would implement security meausres on what McDs wants to do, but I do think they should really sit down with some decent sysadmins and server developers and discuss it before they go off and deploy this in the US

Target market

[Anonymous Coward]

I think they know their target market...

"McDonalds! 20 billion terrorists served"

Side Order

[sflanker]

Welcome to McDonalds may I take your order?
Yes, I'd like a number 2, large fries, and a coke
Ok, that'll be $3.99 and would you like a side of WiFi?

Re:This is not ggod for the common health of geeks

[Anonymous Coward]

AOL has nothing to do with this story. If you believe otherwise, please don't reply.

Yay!

[jobeus]

Now I don't have to waste all that energy getting up off the couch, walking to the car, and driving to McDonald's for food every 4 hours... I can just sit there, eating and Slashdotting!

Mmmmm, healthy. :)

http://jobeus.net/

After my recent visit to McDonald's

[sdcharle]

I could care less about WiFi. The guy who does the fries needs to take care of that nasty rash on the back of his neck, and they need to open more than one register when there's about 15 of Cletus the slack jawed yokels kin milling about angrily waiting to place an order.

They take care of these things, THEN it's time to bring in the gadgetry.

solution to greasy fingers

[Milkyman]

use chopsticks! you can eat your fries with them and then flip em over to tap out your words. save your keyboard!

obligatory

[onthefenceman]

I guess that would make it a war drive-through...

Boom Boom Ching

similar /. story re BK ?

[slide-rule]

Whatever happened to the BK that was supposedly going in to downtown Hartford, CT that was going to do this ('net time with a combo meal or some such)? I live in the area and haven't seen/heard a thing of it since the slashdot article from a few years ago.

Linux has supported this for years

[bunnyman]

# load Sun Happy Meal driver
# /sbin/insmod sunhme.o

If...

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's face it. People who are working at McDonalds (in my experience, anywho) aren't exactly fit to offer any support for this system. I go there, and I'm lucky if the dumbshit behind the counter can get my order right or give me the right change, and now they're going to be admins of an internet network? And I thought Compaq tech support was the pits.

Should be funny, if nothing else, to watch some punk 16 year old Eminem wannabe try to fix some port forwarding goodness.

Laptops at McDonalds

[shrinkwrap]

Hmmm... Food and keyboards don't mix. I think I'll open a repair shop specializing in cleaning the dumped sodas et al. out of laptop keyboards.

You know...

[Peterus7]

They oughta do this with gyms and stuff. Allowing a chance to sit on your ass for hours and eat calorific food is just bad... But if it were in a gym then it might be a bit smarter.

But then again, how is this any different from a cyber cafe? Well, aside from the big evil corporate thing...

I wonder how fast their bandwidth is? Thinking about it, it makes a lot of sense to have internet access terminals in places like that... But why should you have to buy something? Can't you just pay for the access? Oh well...

Re:You know...

[Pampaluz]

I'm sure that you could go in & order a Coke or something, and just pay the three bucks for the access. McDonald's is primarily a very efficient fountain soda pop vendor. It is how they make their money; the food is just the way they get you in there.

They could call it the "Surf and Turf Combo"!!!!

[danberlyoung]

Sorry about that, had to. Later, Dan

Could you be a little more concending?

[CapsaicinBoy]

Actually, maybe you could learn a little humility because Grade D is in fact a legitimate grade of beef.

The Prime/Choice/Select/etc grades you were refering to is a function of both maturity and marbling. The letter grades refer to the maturity of the carcass. Specifically, Prime/Choice/Select/Standard are always Grade A or B. However, Commercial/Utility/Cutter and Canner can be of Grades C through E.

Thus, if I'm buying commercial grade beef as retail estabilishment, I sure want to know if it is Grade C, D, or E to make sure I'm not getting ripped off by the supplier.

Don't believe me? http://www.ianr.unl.edu/pubs/beef/rp357.htm

Re:Could you be a little more concending?

[Latent IT]

DIRECTLY from the site you pointed out:

USDA beef quality grades are Prime, Choice, Select, Standard, Commercial, Utility, Cutter and Canner.

Maturity is an estimation of the physiological age of the carcass. There are five degrees of maturity--A, B, C, D and E.

Holy shit, you showed me.

Actually, uh... the letters are ratings of maturity of the beef. It's not a USDA grade. Why can't you (or other people) understand this?

Believe me, if I could be more "concending", I would be.

More McNews

[Anonymous Coward]

More McNews:

McDonald's Offers New "Dime Menu"

Maybe in the parking lot

[mrnick]

I could see driving through a McDonalds picking up a quick bite then parking and connecting to the Internet from my car. This would only work if EVERY McDonalds had this service.

Nick Powers

Mmmm...Yogurt Parfait

[Iron Chef Unix]

If you buy a yogurt parfait, will they offer to clean all of the grease off of your laptop?

Re: Uh, on *what* principle?

[King_TJ]

Seriously, I'm growing a little tired of all the Mc-Bashing as of late.

The way I see it, McDonalds is one of the best examples out there of how to successfully run a fast food business.

Everyone else is still trying to play catch-up with them. A few months ago, I stopped in a Hardee's (tried their new chicken sandwich, which is pretty darn good for fast food BTW), and a lady offered to give me $5 in Hardee's gift certificates if I filled out a survey.

The survey was mainly focused on Hardee's french-fries, and a whole group of questions asked me to compare them to McDonalds fries (texture, color, flavor, saltiness, etc. etc.).

Also, McDonalds has taken steps to serve more healthy food items on the menu. It's up to you to order smartly. What's wrong with a salad shaker, or the yogurt dessert? For that matter, a fish or chicken sandwich isn't really that terribly bad for you. Granted, it may be fried - but at least it doesn't have the cholesterol levels of beef.

IT

[56ksucks]

Does this mean every McDonalds will need its own IT guy? I can just see a group of geeks with laptops and custom made portible PC's having their LAN party at a local McDonalds.

neuvo rich

[Anonymous Coward]

yes, starbucks... home to the latest PDA wearing, latest Notebook toting, latest full featured cell phone talking idiots that then try to come across as "regular Joe's" and let their obvious guilt drive their stupid decisions and political stances. Get the fuck out of my face pretty boy and take your stupid ass bullshit that tries to solve your guilt by being so "proactive" in the stupidest things and start using that grey shit between your ears. Fucking hippies... different decade, same ol bullshit. I can't even imagine having a laptop or any of those other toys but I sure as hell am not gonna let my life be taxed and dictated into slavery by these hypocrits.

Oh, and yes... the spelling of the subject was for a reason. Think about it and you just might get it.

Underwhelmed

[metachimp]

So what. I'm never in a McDonald's long enough to even want to go online. I could just barely start getting my email and then I'd be done. Honestly, the prospect of sitting in a McDonald's for an hour seems dumb to me. Oh well, it's their money if they want to spend it.

yep, that dude is wrong but you are an asshole

[Anonymous Coward]

and based upon your humurously ironic and hypocritical response, I bet that instead of this McDonald's situation happening with you first giving the money and then when the girl either verbally or non-verbally expressed her confusion you acted like an arrogant asshole. After all, it is obviously logical that someone who's mind was stuck in the repetitious nature of their job and perhaps did not come across many or none that wanted to do that did not instantly know what you were thinking. Furthermore the sum of 5.50 you wanted makes perfect sense of course. 5 Dollars would have been bad, but this way you got rid of a nickel and gained 2 quarters as opposed to what would have been a quarter and a dime most likely had you just taken your fucking change and not been a bothersome prick. I miss beating the shit out of people like you... ah nostalgia.

If only they provided it to my home.

[Vorlonesque]

If they put up a huge antennae (mispelled, I know), with a 20 (or hell 8) mile range that could reach my home with even ISDN speed access, I'd sell my soul for it...I'd let them make me into the goatse man for it...I'd contract kill people (working at burger king I assume) for it! Seriously though, did I mention that I wish I had access to broadband :D.

Re: Uh, on *what* principle?

[hungfarlow]

On the principle that I prefer to support smaller, local places. I prefer more variety, better food, usually at a better price, and the extra bonus that I get to be surprised when checking out a place I haven't been before.

Of course some people prefer to do the same thing every day no matter where they are and to stuff the same old glop down their throats.

(You're probably right about the salads. I haven't been forced to find out yet)

No, Chat'n'Google McChew-Chew

[janap]

For the name on the menu, I mean...

some random thoughts

[nuwayser]

I wonder why they chose the "hour-at-a-time" model when it seems so much easier to use a permanent, roaming account? If I have problems getting it to work in one McD's, I probably wouldn't try it again.

I think Denny's is a much better fit for this type of thing. 24/7, wait service, more coffee please. Also IHOP, Perkin's, Bob Evans, and every diner in the planet. Any place where I don't have to get up and interrupt my train of thought. Eventually, like the juke boxes in the old diners, you can just keep plugging quarters into a box on the booth.

Next will be the food courts at the malls, though you wouldn't go through any of the food vendors to get service... just a kiosk that spits out a card.

If McDonald's has any success with this, many other chains will quickly follow suit and you could get net access anywhere with a kitchen: Outback Steakhouse, Shoney's, Waffle House, Bennigan's, Ruby Tuesday, Red Robin, the local inn. Whether it works or not is another story. Though we all hate the cell-phone gabber while eating, I wonder what social folkways would kick in when some slashdotter overreacts to an article.

I was wondering why they wouldn't offer you a membership, but perhaps it's just too risky at this stage of the game, plus the margins on pay-per-hour are probably better.

But why couldn't Yum Brands offer you a membership which worked at any of their restaurants (KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut) anywhere? Brings brand loyalty to a new dimension.

There must be some people out there who would choose McD's over Wendy's or BK solely because of the Net access...maybe? If they're going to offer this service, why not attempt to grow loyalty with it?

Different McDs have better fries than others... who's to say I wouldn't pick one over another because they handled wifi better?

ok I'm done blabbing

Australian McDonalds will receive WiFi as well

[spathi]

In Australia Telstra will be providing wireless, this service will use a credit system devised by Telstra. Users will sms a number on their mobile and receive an authentication code, and will then be charged monthly via mobile bill.

More Info Here

I wonder if...

[Realistic_Dragon]

You can pay your £3.50 for a meal deal and not have to accept the food? There is nothing wrong with the orange juice*, but it's a bit of a waste to just chuck the food** in the bin :o) *Probably. **Or so they claim.

Confess

[NaDrew]

How many of you reading the parent post suddenly realized how dusty your monitor was and had to wipe it off before continuing?
I usually just use my shirt sleeve.

Hmm...

[kauff]

Nice try, but I only eat Popplers(R)

An hour?

[Anonymous Coward]

It takes me about 3 minutes to eat a combo meal. Besides, who would want to spend that much time in one of those filthy places anyways?

you mean McDonalds doesn't already have wifi?

[mertzman]

Hmm... I always thought McDonalds had wifi already... Friends of mine have reported that there seems to be no problem getting online at the Regent Street McD's here in Madison. So if McDonalds isn't providing it, it must be from the unsecured wireless LAN from the hospital across the street... Maybe the hospital planned this intentionally, after all, a look through some patient files might be an effective way to show you what that Quarter Pounder with Cheese is going to do to your arteries. It's not a security vulnerability... its preventative medicine!

harmful to your health

[wadiwood]

Imagine opening a regular set of email from your friends (not work). My screen would not be G rated.

Or just reading an unmoderated forum daft enough to allow html posts...Kathy Lette (warning hot pink alert), author of Puberty Blues and married to Mr Hypothetical, Geoffrey Robertson.Warning, apart from the hot pink, there are some posts in the notice board that have burned traumatic images in my head forever. Don't click there

It does give me a new reason to visit McDonalds, ie apart from the relatively clean toilets. I'd be going for the not-work surfing and email that I'd prefer my bosses did not know about. And yes Hortense there really is a McDonalds near Yass on the Hume Highway. Innocent/Rude Road Sign BTW an ass in Australia is a donkey.

Re:I am 27 and I still take Happy Meals!

[Anonymous Coward]

Dont worry too much.... Think of what would happen if you where an open source developer...

Im 27 and I still MAKE Happymeals...

I kinda like the thought of...

[mikeophile]

McFrag breaks in the parking lot during lunch.

Why sit on uncomfortable hard plastic chairs when you could be relaxing in the shade on fine Corinthian leather with the tinted windows down in the the car that really goes BOOM!

Good idea. Wrong place

[fordy2640]

I reckon they should do a deal with Subway. What better incentive to get fat geeks like me to lose weight (and not get so much greasy crap on my keyboard)

McDonalds pre-scient?

[Degrees]

How could their marketing department know? Eventually they would attract amateur radio crackers. So they needed the perfect mascot: the HAM-burgler!

I crack myself up.

:-)

Coming soon...

[moertle]

Coming soon to a McDonald's no where near me...

MacDonnalds going wireless

[Alphtoo]

I don't eat ANYTHING that has a first name of "Mac". Wouldn't it be much better if Hooter's went topless? - Alph

Eat a big mac, get a blue tooth!

[Anonymous Coward]

Now, that would be a good slogan for MacDonals!

Re: Uh, on *what* principle?

[King_TJ]

Ah, ok. I can't argue with that. At first, I just thought you were going to side with that annoying group that wants to see McDonalds shut down (or pay big $'s plus revamp their whole menu) just because some people eat too much and get fat off their food.

I like experimenting too. I've found some truly excellent little mom and pop delis/sandwich shops that way.

On the other hand, I'm starting to get a little bit concerned about the little places when it comes to their cleanliness and proper food handling procedures. One advantage of the big chains (as a rule - with exceptions, like all things in life) is they develop guidelines for handling everything they sell. Chicken must be cooked to X temperature for Y length of time, etc. etc.

I've seen a couple privately owned Mexican restaurants out here that scared me when I got a peek in their kitchen. They had open cans of food sitting out (for who knows how long), partially used.... everything was a big mess. The food might be great, but I'd rather not take home a free case of food poisoning with my meal.

No food or drink in the computer room.

[twitter]

Port scan? OK, I've got reasonable software.

Big greasy burger? Does the wifi come with a keybaord protector?

Work at McDs

[twitter]

McDs is where my 1990 census field officer set up shop. It was nasty and it stunk, but it had air conditioning and coffee. I can only imagine what the poor woman must have smelled like when she got home. I've worked for fast food and deep fat fried seafood places but NEVER McDs. McDs is special and only a very tough or special person would stay there all day. The rest of us might think this is a nice way to get email on the road.

Last Post!

[alpg]

One day the King decided that he would force all his subjects to tell the
truth. A gallows was erected in front of the city gates. A herald announced,
"Whoever would enter the city must first answer the truth to a question
which will be put to him." Nasrudin was first in line. The captain of the
guard asked him, "Where are you going? Tell the truth -- the alternative
is death by hanging."
"I am going," said Nasrudin, "to be hanged on that gallows."
"I don't believe you."
"Very well, if I have told a lie, then hang me!"
"But that would make it the truth!"
"Exactly," said Nasrudin, "your truth."

- this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...