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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.

16 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 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. 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.

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    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
  4. 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!

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

    *BRAAAAAP*

  6. 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
  7. Just look for the coke can... by dark-br · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...with an attached Pringles can.

  8. 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? :)

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  9. 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?

  10. 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.

  11. 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.
  12. 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!"