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GPS Cell Phone in Soda Can Form

Posted by michael on from the new-coke dept.

Myko writes "PhoneScoop.com reports that Coca Cola has unleashed a new GPS enabled cell phone for a new promo. Apparently the user will push one button which will auto dial a Coke rep that will tell them they won an SUV. They'll then press and enable the GPS and the prize squad will drive to their location with the prize. So the big question is, will the phone give off any residual waves that will allow custom made detection equipment to find the right 12 pack, similar to the tilt and win iTunes trick? :)" We mentioned this last year, but it wasn't clear how the GPS-in-a-can trick was going to work.

26 of 301 comments (clear)

  1. This is nothing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I had a tin can phone when I was a kid using the latest in string technology. The range and clarity still beat my cell phone today.

    1. Re:This is nothing by Hiro+Antagonist · · Score: 5, Funny

      I had a tin can phone when I was a kid using the latest in string technology. The range and clarity still beat my cell phone today.

      Another satisfied Sprint customer, I see.

      --

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      I Hit the Karma Cap, and All I Got Was This Lousy .sig.
    2. Re:This is nothing by nacturation · · Score: 5, Funny

      Another satisfied Sprint customer, I see.

      Connections so clear you'll notice a pin dropping. *

      (* That is, if it's a really heavy pin and it impales your foot. Sprint not responsible for infections as a result. Do not try at home. Not for internal use.)

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  2. Cola Contests by bobej1977 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Presumably, they're smart enough to not turn the thing on until you pushed the button. Your coca-cola probably gets bottled in your town or a nearby small town. My town of 100k has it's own bottler. They'll know which districts are getting a can so that their prize patrols can be ready.

    On a side note, I went to school with a kid who won a Jeep in the Pepsi contest where each cap had a word and you had to make phrases. The phrase was like 'DO IT' or something. The Jeep had a ton of pepsi stickers all over it and the contract he signed required that he could not sell it or remove any of the stickers for one year. Of course he had to pay the tax on the $20,000 vehicle before they would hand it over. Still better than a kick in the pants, but it's amazing the hoops they make you jump through.

    --
    The meek shall inherit the earth, in 3 by 6 plots. - Lazerus Long
    1. Re:Cola Contests by rjstanford · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There's a ton of FUD about this going around. But its necessary. Basically, the car counts as "income" so you pay income taxes on it.

      If they didn't do this, then instead of companies paying you in dollars, they could just pay you in "cars" (or something smaller, like bycicles) that you could convert to dollars tax-free. So this really plugs a loophole. But you pay tax on your income, no matter what form it comes in - money, cars, vacations, etc.

      The worst example I ever saw was someone who won a one-year lease on a new BMW Z3. Have you seen the price on a one year lease? They ended up paying ~$600 a month in equiv. taxes, a reasonable car payment, and they didn't even get to pick the car.

      --
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    2. Re:Cola Contests by SoCalChris · · Score: 5, Informative

      I won a Honda Civic on the radio a few years ago, here in Los Angeles.

      Before I could even take possesion of the car, I had to pay sales tax, title & registration - About $2,000.

      In addition to that, the value of the car was added to my yaerly earnings. Honda had to report the value of the car to the IRS. They reported it as being a $21,000 Civic. Of course, fully loaded Civics can be bought for much less than that, so the IRS allows you to do a fair market adjustment, and only be taxed on what you would have paid for the car had you bought it. I was able to knock it's value down to around $15,000.

      When I had to do the taxes for that year, the $15,000 added to my income because of the car put me into the next highest tax bracket, and I ended up owing just over $6,000 in income taxes since I hadn't taken out any withholding for the additional income.

      I ended up selling the car to pay the taxes, but I had a pretty good, reliable car for almost a year that I put almost 40,000 miles on.

      If any one is interested, here's a picture of the car I won. Blink 182 Civic

  3. Off the air... by LostCluster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I doubt there's going to be anything given off by this phone when it's not in use. Afterall, does a cell phone that's turned off give of any energy that can be detected?

    1. Re:Off the air... by jamonterrell · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'm concerned less with it giving off any emissions rather than it acting differently when having emissions bounced off of it. Different electronic gadgets will alter waves that are bounced off of them in different ways, very much in the way RFIDs work. It's very likely that it can be detected, as a can full of soda would certainly respond differently than a can full of GPS/Cellphone. You could also do the same thing with a sonar-type device configured to measure the density of the material inside the can. The point is, however, it's all pointless because with the amount of coke moved out in the time period that this competition will run is inconceivable. Unless the device were screaming "I'M OVER HERE, OH YEAH, AND I'M THE WINNING COKE CAN" you aren't likely to find it even if you're in the same store as it, at the same time as it happens to be passing through.
      Oh yeah, and to address the other post regarding them knowing the approximate location so they can rush out to it when they press the button. I say good luck to them with that. I'd find it very funny if the person who gets it happens to pick up a 12pack just before returning on a flight from Miama, FL, to Portland, OR. That'd mess up their plans to seem all cool by rushing out to the site of the can within 10-20 minutes with a TV crew, now woudln't it? :)

      --
      I can count to 1023 on my hands. Ask me about #132.
  4. In the can? by dleifelohcs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Aside from weight, which will obviously be different on the case that has the phone in it compared to the case that does not, WHERE is the phone being placed? Inside an empty can with a different style lid? Or is the phone can-shaped, to prevent the case from making "noises" or rattling that a normal case wouldn't make... in any case (no pun intended) the case will be different. Though I do not support cheating the game.

  5. DAMMIT by Xhad · · Score: 5, Funny

    You're embedding electronic devices in soda cans now?!? You just ruined my best source of tin for my hats, Coca-Cola.

    --


    Member of Orkut? Annoyed with spam?
    1. Re:DAMMIT by AKAImBatman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You just ruined my best source of tin for my hats, Coca-Cola.

      Should I even tell the poor sap that cans are made of aluminum?

      --
      Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
  6. No Purchase Necessary? by taped2thedesk · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How will the "no purchase necessary" part of this promo work? I can't see them mailing out cans to people who send in a postcard... or are companies not required to do "no purchase necessary" anymore?

    1. Re:No Purchase Necessary? by LostCluster · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The only part of "no purchase necessary" that they need to take care of is making sure that the odds of a postcard winning are the same as the odds of a 12-pack winning.

      Most likely, the cans won't be the actual "game piece". Instead, they'll print up serial-numbered cards, most of which say "You Lose" and one for each car they have will say "You Win!" They'll shuffle up the cards, and then drop one into each specially marked 12-pack and keep a pile aside for the mail-in entries.

      12-packs that get the winning game pieces will also get the cell phone gadget. People who end up with a winning gamepiece in their SASE will get a phone number to call to claim their prize. The key thing will be that the odds of getting a a winning piece instead of a loser has to be the same by both methods... at that point, "no purchase necessary" is taken care of.

  7. next by Errtu76 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now all you'll need is that the car will include a red button that, when pressed, will send your location to Coca Cola and a person comes to deliver you a ice cold can of coke!

  8. First words Coca-Cola rep hears... by YetAnotherAnonymousC · · Score: 5, Funny

    *BRAAAAAP*

  9. lets get to the important Slashdot question... by Ubergrendle · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Do i get to keep the GPS enabled phone!?!?!?

    --
    John Maynard Keynes: "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?"
  10. Flying by Himring · · Score: 5, Funny

    So the big question is, will the phone give off any residual waves that will allow custom made detection equipment to find the right 12 pack

    I can imagine flight attendates augmenting the usual shpill:

    We ask at this time that you turn off any cell phones, laptops, PDAs and GPS-enabled soda cans....

    --
    "All great things are simple & expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." --Churchill
  11. Like Lemmings off the cliff by Willeh · · Score: 4, Funny

    Take can to sandy Beach. Click, call win the SUV. Throw can into sea. Watch coke reps do a yellow submarine job out into the pacific. Call papers ahead of time watch the event.

    --
    Will wank off Linus Torvalds for fame.
  12. Just my luck. . . by eutychus_awakes · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'd get the winning can while boarding an airplane.

    (Me, opening can:) Hey - I think I won!

    (Flight Attendant:) "At this time, please turn off all personal electronic devices.
    Your flight crew will inform you when it is safe to use approved electronic devices in flight."

    (Me:) --AARRRGGGH!

    --
    This sig is a test. If this had been an actual sig, you would be reading something quite a bit wittier than this now.
    1. Re:Just my luck. . . by Bvardi · · Score: 4, Funny

      Good thing too... I could imagine the reactions of the poor SUV drivers trying to follow the GPS signal of a can in midflight...

      "Speedup damnit, that guy has to be doing a few hundred miles per hour!"

  13. Just look for the coke can... by dark-br · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...with an attached Pringles can.

  14. It's not real GPS but GSM location-services by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's a complete misnomer that the phone companies have been spewing the past year or so. It's not GPS but rather triangulation of the phone from the cell towers. It's GPS-like in that it can tell you about where you are but it's NOT GPS. GPS requires line of sight to several of the 14 GPS satellites which you wouldn't get inside a building or even in a metropolitan area with high-rise buildings all around.

  15. Nokia? by earthloop · · Score: 5, Informative

    Looking at the FCC docs, and this one in particular. The is a photo of the bottom of the can. On the bottom is a label, on this is text that says "Made in Finland". What the betting that the device has been made by Nokia?

  16. How to have fun (and see yourself on the news) by IceSabre · · Score: 5, Funny

    Step 1) Give the phone to your freaky, paranoid, paramilitary and big brother suspicious neighbor. Step 2) Get some lawn chairs and a cooler. Step 3) Watch the prize delivery crew show up unannounced. Step 4) Get interviewed on the 10:00 news.

  17. Make Coke work for it by hopemafia · · Score: 5, Funny

    Coke is obviously going to track where the winning cans are distributed so they can have the prize stationed nearby, soooo....

    Who ever wins should mess with them by finding to the most remote location they can get a cell signal before pushing the button. Go to Nome, or Yellowknife, or park a boat offshore somewhere.

    --
    If God had had a computer it would have taken him 7 months to create the earth...if he even bothered to do it at all.
  18. Re:Second words Coca-Cola rep hears... by fenix+down · · Score: 5, Funny

    "What the fuck you do with my coke?"
    "Congratulations, you've won..."
    "No, no, fuck that, I paid for 12 cokes and I got 11 cokes and this talking plastic thing."
    "Ummm...car..."
    "Bitch, I'll cut you!"