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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.
And I'm still sitting here trying to puzzle out how the signal from the table provides enough power to run the circuitry in the glass. I remember some talk about wireless power and I think Tessla had it figured out a long time ago, but it still boggles my mind :)
And I haven't even started puzzling how a glass full of ice is somehow different than a glass full of beer.
The things geeks play with when they get bored...
You just don't drink the last fucking glass! In Japan, it's considered impolite not to keep your guest's glass topped up. So, when the said guest has had enough, the wise course of action is to leave the glass full.
The real world has deeper meanings than what-you-see-is-what-you-get. STOP THINKING LIKE COMPUTER ENGINEERS!
Speaking of which, drivethroughs have been hacked. Who wants to bet a couple of drunk grad students whip up something (RFID is pretty damn easy to forge) that sends the waiters scurrying all over?
May we never see th
Why is it that engineers always invent the best stuff over beers?
At [former employer, large defense contractor], our entire design staff came up the best things at the local bar. Of course, it meant we usually went to the design meeting bleary-eyed and with notes scribbled all over beer-stained cocktail napkins (sometimes still damp).
Many employers give programmers free all-you-can-drink soft drinks. Engineers should get free all-you-can-drink beer. As caffeine boosts productivity for some, alcohol boosts creativity for others.
MmmMM... beer.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
This is just one more piece of evidence to subpeona against you at your DUI trial.
Good question.
But I was thinking(smell smoke yet?). Why haven't bars and restaurants started using electronic menus or small kiosks at tables? Surely it would be much easier to select what you want from a touch screen and have it transmitted to the kitchen. Sure, you don't have the same level of interaction you do with a waiter, but surely it would be more efficient.
"People should be allowed to keep midgets as pets."
- Gov. Jesse Ventura
They don't charge you $5 for that glass in Japan. They charge for what you've had and throw out the "last glass" because the cost of the beer to the restaurant is negligable compared to what you paid for it. It's similar to how your condiments are free.
yeah, yeah, RTFS but...
I'm guessing that this thing works from detecting a change in the intensity of the light reflected back to indicate an empty glass.
However, I wonder if it would have to be adjusted for Guiness vs. Keystone Light (or Pearl Light if you know what that is [w00t! 68 calories]).
By the way, the only reason I drink cheap beer is because I'm poor, not because I have bad taste. (Well, that and the fact that you can drink a lot more at once).
Ok, we are talking very low power here and everyone has seen the effect mobile phones can have on transmitter/reciever circuits. I havn't bothered to think about it too much (/me lazy :) but having someones phone on the table would have to play havoc with the SNR (signal to noise ratio) of the system? Any thoughts?
finally RFIDs are being used for something decent... keeping my beer full!
Another case where technology not really addresses the problem...
Here in Holland, most of the waiters in the cafes with outdoor terraces use wireless handsets to transmit their orders to the kitchen and to receive a signal the order is ready. This way you get the interaction without the hassle of the waiter buggering off to chat to the chef :)
Troc
Troc's dubious podcast and blog: http://www.trocnet.net
The Atanassoff-Berry computer was actually largely designed on a napkin while John Vincent Atanassoff and one of his graduate students drank at a local bar. They had decided to get away from the office to "Think the problem through"
Instead of having a sensor on/in the glass to determine if its going empty or not,, why not make a high tech table that has a spot or a button to place the drink when you want a refill so they know instead of rushing one to you when you finish. This would give the consumer the option to get a drink instead of having one after another till they are blitzed because some consumers (along with me) have the "if I buy it then I might as well drink it" mentality.
I am sure that this approach would be more cost effective then buying 200 of these glasses at $100 a pop.
Another good way to get free food is to capitalize on the lazy\apathetic cashier's desire for you to leave. It works best with the little add-on items, but anything below $3 or so is a good candidate. I get free nachos at Taco Bell 6/10 times I try this. Make sure it's something you really want, because occasionally you'll end up paying for it.
Order your meal as usual (minus the item you want for free) and pull around to pay. As soon as they tell you the total, have money in hand and say, "oh, I forgot. Can you add xyz?" You have now put the cashier in an uncomfortable position: To do their job or just take the money and give you the item for free. How busy are they? How lazy are they? The money is the goal, and you having it in hand is an added pressure.
Ususally this won't work if there are seperate windows for paying and receiving food. If you want to try it there, pay for your order normally at the first window and then do the addon order at the SECOND window. Second window employees are used to handing out food for nothing.
In one of Larry Niven's "Known Space" stories, our hero is drinking at a party thrown by Elephant, the decendant of the inventor of teleportation. The glasses have a small teleportation receiver in them, and constantly maintain their level of fluid.
Our hero remarks that this is a great way to become an alchoholic without realizing it.
www.eFax.com are spammers
Ok, so its hard enough now to get the attention of your mistres...er waitress for another round even when you are tipping well and drinking a lot.
Now my waitress will be too busy to serve me because she'll need to be sitting behind a computer monitor quereing tables and feeding that data into a traveling salesman type algorithym to minimize her travel and maximize her tips.
Think of all the data that could be collected though... Which table/individual tips the most, how tips are effected by amount of consumption..after a couple hours a waitress could do a real time analyses of her projected tips for the night. Sweet.
Apple free since 1990!
I remember back when Arby's tried this. I watched in shocked amazement that supposedly intelligent business people could not figure out how to to order a roast beef sandwich.
Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life
If a drinker can't bother to get a waiter's attention, then why can't a simple button attached to a light work? Unless pushing a button might be too confusing for some.