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Another Beer Please

Posted by michael on from the brooklyn-lager dept.

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.

31 of 333 comments (clear)

  1. This isn't helping by mfivis · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

    1. Re:This isn't helping by madMingusMax · · Score: 5, Funny

      We may be fat and lazy, but damn! we sure are efficient!

      --
      Don't be a zoa (zealous overbearing ass), be happy!
    2. Re:This isn't helping by deltronzero · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah, but having your pint glass perpetually full will help make all the hefty members of the opposite sex look much more attractive.

  2. Finally! by macshune · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Some use for RFIDs that doesn't lead to a police state! Only more beer for all! Horray for bread & circuses!

    1. Re:Finally! by shyster · · Score: 4, Insightful
      WOW! I'm amazed at this technology, waiters simply looking at the glass and checking on their tables regularly would never work. I hope they come out with plates that somehow tell you when you're done chewing your food so people know when to swallow too.

      Speaking as a former waiter, I know that a good deal of a waiter's time is taken up by simply checking on fluid levels. And that some people will have a full glass of beer/water/whatever for 10 minutes, but then drain the entire glass in 60 seconds. Quite difficult to time that refill.

      If the waiter no longer had to constantly monitor drinks, it would free them up to handle more customers and/or provide better service.

  3. So what happens when... by sTavvy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You don't want another drink, but your glass/table has ordered you another one, and teh waiter brings it over???
    and then proceeds to add the drink to the bill even though you didn't drink it, but you did order it.?

    1. Re:So what happens when... by Advocadus+Diaboli · · Score: 5, Funny

      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. :-)

    2. Re:So what happens when... by EinarH · · Score: 4, Funny

      Dude; this is slashdot, haven't you heard all that talk about Free Beer?

      --

      Melius mori in libertate quam vivere in servitute.

    3. Re:So what happens when... by pod · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well, common sense tells me that the sensor will signal your server, who will come over and ask if anyone wants another drink. Just because it's RFID doesn't mean it has to be complicated, or track you, or infringe your freedoms, or take money out of your wallet.

      --
      "Hot lesbian witches! It's fucking genius!"
    4. Re:So what happens when... by SaraSmith · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because people are FUCKING STUPID. Arbys and Taco Bell have both tried this, and people can't figure it out. "Duh... I pushed taco and said my order was done, now it says to pay the cashier?? what do I do???"

    5. Re:So what happens when... by troc · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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
  4. This is why technology will ultimately fail us by corebreech · · Score: 4, Funny

    Because the more advanced we become, the drunkerer we get.

    --
    Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
  5. RFID tags by jmobley · · Score: 5, Funny

    So... RFID tags are our friend now? I'm so confused.

    /goes off to get a beer

    1. Re:RFID tags by jerkychew · · Score: 4, Funny

      Like most things in life, they get much friendlier when beer is involved.

  6. hrm. by pb · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.
  7. RFIDs would suck in Star Wars... by macshune · · Score: 5, Funny

    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...

  8. Re:Wow! by shird · · Score: 4, Funny

    And I keep puzzling over your idea of putting ice in a glass of beer.

    --
    I.O.U One Sig.
  9. Re:Definitely neat. But... by bazik · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is it REALLY that hard to just walk around and look at peoples' glasses?

    You haven't been at the Oktoberfest yet ;)

    --


    --
    One by one the penguins steal my sanity...
  10. Responsible Service of Alcohol by sTavvy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Also kind of throws the "Responsible service Of Alcohol" policy that we have in Australia.
    How is the glass going to know how drunk the person is, and if they should be seerved any more alcohol?

  11. Conflicted. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    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*

  12. Oh christ by Tokerat · · Score: 4, Insightful


    RFID tags are only as evil as those who use them. Just because your beer glass has an RFID tag in it does NOT mean you need a tin-foil hat to go to the bar.

    You know, you coudl complain just as much about 802.11 and Bluetooth, because they can be used in similar ways with a little effort.

    Monitor the general vicinity of your laptop? Record what store security systems your PDA enters? Hell, triangulate your cel phone signal (and now GPS it), a wireless electronic item quite personally associated with you by a corporate entity, nonetheless.

    Please TFY next time. That's "Think For Yourself", and I think it should become as popular as "IANAL" and "RTFA" here on "/."

    (Sorry if this was a joke, but the first thing I thought of when I read this article is "Great, another RFID bitchfest")

    --
    CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
  13. In related news... by nfras · · Score: 5, Funny

    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"
  14. 30% Empty by femto · · Score: 5, Funny
    Presumably these glasses will indicate empty even though they ar 30% full, the glass will self destruct if you take too long to drink your beer and you will not be able to fill the glas with homebrew beer? When they do refill it, maybe you only get half a glass of beer?

    (Betcha students can't sneak them out of the pub either.)

    1. Re:30% Empty by Chuck+Chunder · · Score: 5, Funny
      Betcha students can't sneak them out of the pub either
      I think you are vastly underestimating the thieving abilities of drunk students. They could be chained to a 200 kilo block of concrete and still go missing.

      In fact, you'd probably lose more because it would be seen as a challenge.
      --
      Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
  15. Drivethru Hacking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny
    When I was in college, one of my favorite pranks was to get in the drive-thru, slip past the order taker panel and snug up into line right behind the car in front of me and wait.

    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.

  16. But... but... by Inoshiro · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.
  17. A better question... by Inoshiro · · Score: 5, Funny

    "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.

    --
    --
    Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
  18. Low tech solution by Matthias+Wiesmann · · Score: 5, Informative
    I like high tech stuff, but sometimes, there is a simple low-tech solution that is simpler, cheaper and often more robust.

    Do you know that there is a low tech solution that is in use for years? In germany beer mugs have a lid. If the lid is open, the waiter knows you want a refill, if not you don't want a refill...

    This solution is also wireless...

  19. At 50% by neglige · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...will the glass report itself to be half empty or half full??

    --
    My cats ate my karma. They also wrote this comment.
  20. Re:Definitely neat. But... by BadDoggie · · Score: 4, Informative
    And you've never actually worked as a server there. There are about 10,000 guests in each tent, being served by about 50-80 women who have to carry up to a dozen freshly-filled 1-liter mugs (Maßkruüge), each weighing in at 2.2kg. Calm down and wait your turn. Maybe if you tried tipping more than the 12 cents to round it up to the next full euro you'd get better service.

    This advice on Oktoberfest bears repeating:

    1. Put your butt on a bench and they'll bring you a beer. You will NOT be served at Oktoberfest unless you are seated. Everyone will let you sit down for the two or three minutes necessary to order a beer if you ask nicely and tell them that's what you're doing.
    2. Tourists go to the HB (Hofbräuhaus); the best beer is Augustiner.
    3. To be sure to get faster service, fuller beer steins and better food, tip 15% or more. The women work HARD (and if you had to listen to the "Hey, Baby" song 3 times an hour, 13 hours a day for 2 1/2 weeks straight, you'd understand).
    I don't need a mug that tells the staff I need another beer; I need one that tells me I don't!

    woof.

  21. Farking with order-takers II by LinuxHam · · Score: 5, Funny

    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