Slashdot Mirror
Another Beer Please
jmichaelg writes "What do you get when you combine a glass, a PIC computer, two capacitors, a coil and a zener Diode? A wireless beer glass that signals your waiter when you need a refill. The circuit is an RFID transponder that measures the fluid level in a glass and transmits a globally unique ID coupled to the fluid level reading when queried by an antenna hidden in your table. The query provides enough power to drive the circuit so no batteries are needed. A technical paper describes the circuitry in the table and the glass." This hit the news over a year ago, but we didn't have the technical details.
Okay- this doesn't help our obesity issues at all. We're the only country with drivethroughs every 5 feet and now we are spared the exercise of raising our hand to signal the waiting staff for a refill.
Because the more advanced we become, the drunkerer we get.
Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
So... RFID tags are our friend now? I'm so confused.
/goes off to get a beer
What's so interesting about a wireless beer glass--aren't they *all* wireless? Was there a failed wired beer glass prototype that /. didn't report on? ...as for signalling the waiter when you need a refill, it's already the waiter's job to look at the glass and ask the customer if he wants another. If the beer glass replaced this function, then I'd have to start tipping the glass instead of the waiter... and there's no way I'm going to tip my precious glass of beer!
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
Obi-Wan: These are not the droids you are looking for...
Storm Troopers: Actually sir, yes, they are. These droids have a globally unique identifier that signals they are indeed the droids we are looking for. What's it to you, anyways? *pause* Hey, wait a second! We just scanned your robe and found out that you bought your robe using your Imperial Credit Card....MR. KENOBI
Obi-Wan: Uhhhh... Uhhh...
And I keep puzzling over your idea of putting ice in a glass of beer.
I.O.U One Sig.
Is it REALLY that hard to just walk around and look at peoples' glasses?
;)
You haven't been at the Oktoberfest yet
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One by one the penguins steal my sanity...
Well, usually I pay for what I have ordered. In that case the glass placed the order without my approval, so I pay only the first one and all refills have to be charged to the glass. :-)
Dude; this is slashdot, haven't you heard all that talk about Free Beer?
Melius mori in libertate quam vivere in servitute.
I thought we hates RFIDs. No, no we loves them when they have beer involved! Shut up, you! RFIDs are our enemies. Hssssss! But beer is our precioussssss..... NO SHUT UP! SHUT UP!! We hates the RF-trickies. We hates them. I thought.... we liked.... beer... NO! LIES! They all hate you, and track you with RFID tricksies.... the beer is our friend, though, the TV told me so. Lies! Lies with boobies! Nobody likes you! Beer likes me beer was always lyinggg to you. Yess, tricksie. So they can track your beer supply and get you when you're... No! be quiet! Gahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! *sob*
According to our logs you have been drinking way too much beer lately. Report to the nearest government office for rehabilitation. Failure to comply will result in severe beatings.
It has been announced that after signalling for the 4th drink it will also notify your partner to go into "sulk mode" and make up the bed in the spare room.
You call me a pedant? I prefer the term "correct"
(Betcha students can't sneak them out of the pub either.)
For a real beer drinkers heaven go to Stinkies a 24/7 pub, attach catheter, give waitress credit card, and begin bindge. Taxi or Paramedics will be called when beer glass is full without being drunk from for more than 2 hours.
OH THE SHAME I fell off the wagon and use sigs again!
Somebody would eventually pull up behind me and order. I would get whatever it was they ordered. If it was a big family, I would simply say I got trapped in the line and pass on thru, but if it was another single, chances are he ordered something simple too.. so I would just take it as if nothing happened pay for it, then pull around and park in the lot and watch all the confusion at all the subsequent orders being all out of sync.
Another funny thing is a lot of those order-taker panels were actually little two-way radios. With a strong local mobile rig, you could "capture" the carrier and make do like the restaurant. It was hilarious making do like the order-taker and playing with the customers.
And I post AC for a reason. There may be many out there that remember those pranks.
What of my paranoia?! It has RFIDs in it! It's evil!
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Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
"How is the glass going to know how drunk the person is, and if they should be seerved any more alcohol?"
How is the glass going to be able to walk over to the bar, hop under the tap, and fill itself up with more beer?
There's still a person in the equation, so don't worry about it.
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Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
...will the glass report itself to be half empty or half full??
My cats ate my karma. They also wrote this comment.
...the coffee pot computer.
Now what if those 2 could be combined? Hmmmm...
well it's just the same thing that happens always..
you end up home absolutely smashed.
and what you gotta complain when you don't have the beer prices of finland(or norway/sweden).
now what i would be worried would be when they include this in shot glasses.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Laura
Back when I frequented Mickey D's, I would often listen in on their headset freq. On a couple of occasions, I would turn the radio way up and cause feedback. "Owww! What the HELL is that?!?!" On one other occasion, the order-taker was being a smart ass. She would ask each and every customer..
OT: "is that everything?"
C: "yes"
OT: "are you sure?"
C: "uh, yes"
OT: "100%"
C: "YES"
so when she asked me if I was sure, I replied, "100%". The next few seconds of silence was among the funniest in memory.
Intelligent Life on Earth
who drink our beers straight out of the bottle, what do we get, aside from the enjoyment of watching a tipsy barmate look at his glass and mutter "this thing's broken" when the servers ignore him...
I'd have a personalized plate on my car, but "toxic bachelor" won't fit into 7 letters.
... monitoring hubby's beer glass. At glass seven he gets a call on his cell phone. "Harcourt? Harcourt Fenton Mudd, you're drinking again!? This is your seventh glass of beer! You KNOW how you get when you've had too much to drink!" And of course the prosecutor, may it please the court, can provide records showing exactly the number of drinks H. Mudd had to drink when he's brought up for public intoxiation charges.
Get off my virtual lawn, you damned virtual kids!