Slashdot Mirror
Intelligent Coasters Keep Beer Mugs Full
Dotnaught writes "CNN.com is reporting that two German students have invented a beer mat, or coaster, that uses sensor chips to determine when the beer glass it supports is empty and then radios the bartender for a refill. One of the students interviewed for the story suggested that lifting mugs from sensing mats could double as a voting system during karaoke competitions." From the article: "Unlike the usual cardboard beer mats, the invention is made out of plastic, which means it does not absorb water. Butz said that to get around the problem, ordinary cardboard mats could be placed on top of the plastic version to absorb liquid and display advertising. 'Cardboard beer mats could still sit on top of the plastic mat and there could still be advertising, and you would just exchange the cardboard mat when you wanted to change the advertising.'"
...aren't these (or similar) invented by somebody every year? Yet they seem to still be few and far between... What I'm trying to say is, why should this one be any different?
webpage
I'll drink to that!
Thank god we can display advertising on the cardboard.
After reading a bunch of junk about webcomics, about gorrillas, NAAS, hybrid cars, and some silly movie... FINALLY slashdot is giving us a post about something useful.
My life is complete. Now I don't even have to speak to bartenders! I can just use my mouth for its One True Purpose, the ingestion of sufficient quantities of "liquid bread".
Germany is where?
Raise your children as if you were teaching them to raise your grandchildren, because you are.
What the fuck ever happened to "Yo barkeep, lemme have a refill!"...of course, that assumes that you dont get kicked the fuck out with that remark...or leaving bad tips :)
Join the TWIT army now!
Before a whole bunch of us scream "dupe," yes, we've seen this before, but this time it's the mugs that are phoning the bar. Let's see 'em!
Another Beer Please
Beer Stein Goes Hi Tech
Sometimes, I don't WANT another beer (usually when I can't afford another beer).
...but can it tell when you've had enough for the night?
I don't get it.
These are almost exactly the same as the in-glass system I read about in a Mitsubishi R&D pdf a while back. linky, google html conversion it uses the table for power and data transmission, and detects liquid level through electric resistance measurements. neat stuff
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the frumious Bandersnatch.
I'm thinking that stupid women are still more cost effective than intelligent coasters.
And if you don't set your beer back down on the coaster you get another beer. Dumb pointless invention.
if it was "free as in beer" :)
So can these things be modified to handle pitchers? I rarely ever get individual beers, as I count my beers by the liter.
...the robot barkeep, R2 style.
Also, this brings us one step closer to humanities highest achievement to be...
Do not confuse "Freedom of Choice" with "Free Will".
... I, for one, *REALLY* welcome our new automatic bartender-alerting beer mug coaster overlords.
:-)
Them Germans, ain't they clever?
Sure there are karaoke competitions, nothing quite the caliber of what was portrayed in Duets with Lewis and Paltro. Competition does not follow traditional Japanese karaoke style, and is nothing more than a gimmick by desperate KJ's to attract customers
First, let me tell folks who I am before my expertise in karaoke and tech stuff. I'm toqer, I broadcast my karaoke show over the internet via winampTV. I've won award after award for my shows in addition to having an article in the New York Times.
http://www.7bamboo.com/nyt1.htm http://www.7bamboo.com/nyt2.htm http://www.7bamboo.com/chat.html KARAOKE IS HARDCORE!!!
--toq
Why not just have buttons to push if a beer is needed. The button could be on the coaster, or just on the bar, or at the tables, or whatever. That would probably be cheaper. That also solves the problem of having finished one beer, but not wanting another. Not to mention people walking out of the bar with the coaster, etc.
How about a nanotech version of the "selfwinding watch" mechanisms, that charge the sensor/radios when the steins are lifted?
--
make install -not war
still no cure for cancer.
I saw "Intelligent" and "Beer" in the same line. I'm calling bullshit.
Maybe they're out giving these coasters a "test drive" by drinking a shit load of booze...that or they might be playing Hungry Hungry Hippos at Taco's house.
Join the TWIT army now!
PROOF of intelligent design.
Wouldn't these inventive types get a bigger charge out of doing something important? Like a mug that makes beer out of thin air?
This is another case where people failed to define a problem, and didnt really solve a problem that needed solving...
On se Internetz nobody noes your German.
and
beer
Please, let's not ruin one of my life's greatest joys by bringing intelligence to bear
"Academicians are more likely to share each other's toothbrush than each other's nomenclature."
Cohen
Praise god for this Intelligent Design! A great step in the evolution of beer mugs!
>> Butz said that to get around the problem...
Harry? Harry is that you?
Hmm, being a regular male chauvinist pig, I think I much prefer a breasty bar girl in a short skirt coming to ask me whether I want another...
Oh well, what the hell...
Could make a glass and stool duo. Stool checks the sitters weight and calculates the safe alcohol limit for that persons weight. Glass refills until limit is reached. Maybe i'm thinking too much about this. Bartender!
So, when you are lying on the floor, holding on, so as not to fall off the planet and you can't return the mug to the coaster, since your arm is too short and you can't find the table anyway, since it isn't down there, then the barkeep will keep bringing you more beer? There is something fundamentally flawed with this design.
Oh well, what the hell...
Giving the coasters total control of beer? They could keep mankind enslaved.
I, for one, welcome our new Intelligent Coaster Overlords.
can't wait until the Theory of Intelligent Coasting is taught in our public schools' science classes.
Quite frankly, I think here in the U.S. - the main reason karaoke survives has nothing to do with whatever cash prizes or competitions are going on. Everyone I know who is into it is either a part-time musician who wants to practice their singing skills in public someplace, or more commonly, is an amateur who thinks he or she is a "pretty good singer" and wants to show off (after loosening up a bit with a couple beers).
EG. I used to know a couple girls, one of their boyfriends, and another guy the boyfriend was buddies with, who went to karaoke religiously because they got a kick out of working on songs they could all sing as a group. (They spent a few weeks working out a version of the B-52's "Love Shack", for example - with one of the guys doing the low male voice that says "Love shack baby!", etc. and the others alternating lines or singing in chorus throughout the song.) After that got old and one or two of them lost interest, they all quit going to karaoke. The bar they went to never held contests or anything. They just went there because it was close to where they all lived.
Another good friend of mine is a guitarist, and he's played off and on again in bands his co-workers put together to jam on weekends. After he learns to play a song, a lot of times he starts trying to learn the lyrics and sing along to it, so he can play it solo for friends or a girlfriend, and keep it interesting enough to listen to all the way through. Karaoke is sort of his way of both practicing and testing the results in a public setting of his singing. (He only does karaoke for songs he learned the guitar for previously.)
i'm gonna make my own coaster! with blackjack, and hookers~!
on second thought forget the coaster, and the blackjack.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
"Guaranteed to keep your glass full even after you pass out."
How about you embed these in tables/bars? Then you don't have to worry about it getting stolen, and you make the process more transparent to the client. And you can keep the standard coasters. Just make it intuitive that the place you put your cardboard coasters is on top of the embedded plastic one.
...Intelligent wives keep beers coming.
Now that I think about it, having the candidates sing karaoke as part of their platform might be a good idea too
Never before has there been a story with such harmony between "News for Nerds" and "Stuff that Matters." Well, except all those other smart beer mug posts.
Here's a bit of trivia that some of you might know. It's common for a bartender to refill your mug without you asking when they see your mug completely empty, especially in Germany. If you leave a little beer on the bottom, the bartender won't give you a refill.
:)
It's nice to learn these kind of things from elderly relatives who got smashed because they didn't know certain customs overseas
"Tread softly because you tread on my dreams"
You guys always post articles about beers and stuff. You do it a lot. I love you guys.
Happy Friday night
I wouldn't want to ride any coaster that would allow me to keep a full mug of beer. If I'm riding a coaster with a mug of beer, I want it to be all over me by the time the ride is over... or rather, half in me and half all over me :-)
"I'm not impatient. I just hate waiting." - My Dad
This had something to do with roller coasters. Now that would have been cool.
People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them
The Czechs at U Zlateho Tigra have a simpler system.
They serve one beer. (an excellent one).
They serve one kind of mug (half-liter).
It is presumed that if you have an empty in front of you, you want another.
A guy goes around the room looking for empties. He carries as many beers as he can hold. He takes your empty, puts down the new beer and marks your coaster to "add" the new beer to the tally. Then he goes back to the bar, loads up with more beers and heads out.
If you don't want the beer, you must say "no!"
When finished, you pay. He counts up and you are done.
That's it: free but for the paper (or coaster) used for the tab. Works great. No need to even talk to the guy.
Ruthelessly efficient.
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
...two German students have invented a beer mat, or coaster, that uses sensor chips to determine when the beer glass it supports is empty.
:p
So, is this a follow-up to Wild Gorillas Impress With Their Tools then?
This invention is quite improper, it is based on a misunderstand on the proper use of Coasters, they are not supposed to support beer glasses, actually beer glasses are wetting the coasters.
/ \ /\
/ \/ \ /\ /\
/ \/ \/ \ :-)
The real use of them is to make small castles on your table, this enables you to check if you are completelly drunk (or not).
And possibly to attrack beautiful potential significant others (it doesn't work, but at least it keeps your mind occupied)
It can also help you to hide from people you do not particularly want to see.
So here is a real "e-coaster".
/\
/\
/\
Etc... Ad bibitum
CNN.com is reporting that two German students have invented a beer stool, or chair, that uses sensor chips to determine when the occupant it supports has fallen off and then radios for a cab.
This reminds me of a T-shirt I've seen:
(written upside down) "If you can read this, please put me back on the bar stool."
People here in Germany are constantly worried that the research in Germany universities might not be able to compete with the top places in the world anymore. This finally proves them all sooo wrong!
Is it just me or did anyone else get a wierd sense of irony between these two adjacent articles:
Science: Wild Gorillas Impress With Their Tools
Science: Intelligent Coasters Keep Beer Mugs Full
an intelligent beer mug that doesn't require an intelligent coaster??
Wow. This "invention" is really incredible. I could read about uninspired, boring, and obviously forced engineering student projects all day. Keep up the good work editors and I'll continue pitching in criticism with a very weak (and not funny) coating of sarcasm.
I'm usually all for using technology to make people lose their jobs (I've sure done my share of it), but geez... bar wenches? Finally, I'm starting to have regrets.
7. Different people, different drinks.
8. Beer doesn't always stay in the mugs.
9. Unless they're REALLY durable (read: very expensive), they aren't gonna last long (slamming mugs down, beating on with fists, using as frizbee).
10. Coasters do not get 'lost' in pubs, they get stolen flat out. As to what people do with them is an entirely different topic.
...but it did seem like an approriate sense of sarcasm was applied by the editors.
/. editors think /. sucks! :)
I guess that makes for the real news;
Incidentally, the device could be entirely contained within a single machine, but at the time they were also trying to demonstrate USB connectivity so they ran the software on the iMac and controlled the hardware on the G3 tower via USB.
Modest doubt is called the beacon of the wise. - William Shakespeare
I can see it now. Combine this with kegbot and your next night out will be entirely known by Linux. The question is whether this is scary or cool.
This coaster
According to the BBC coverage of this, these things cost $100 each to make.
++ Say to Elrond "Hello.".
Elrond says "No.". Elrond gives you some lunch.
It was if millions of alcoholics called out in unison and were suddenly happy.
I couldn't fail to disagree with you any less.
If so, where would you stuff the $5?
I am reminded of a passing reference in a Larry Niven story - 'Flatlander', I think - where a character, getting steadily more drunk, realises his glass never seems to get empty: it seems there's a matter transmitter behind the bar, and the glass has a builtin receiver and a liquid level sensor....
Am I the only one who read that as "Intelligent Roller Coasters Keep Beer Mugs Full?"
My only thought was, "I can take my beer with me on the roller coaster, and it won't spill? Sweet!"
I thought that they were really on to something. Then, I read the summary...
does it run linux?
is the beer free as in beer?
can Tux be my bartender?
Hack your mind out of its sandbox.
This sounds like a couple of students wired together some components for a design project, and then tried to come up with an application after the fact.
My school's department chairman went to school in New Zealand. He said many pubs had a beer chugging timer system (microswitch under a mat connected to a timer). So these guys just replaced the timer with a radio.
Slashdot reports that the number of errors in the "type-a-word to confirm you are not a script" box increased dramatically on articles about beer and beer accessories. It was concluded that the visitors to the beer articles might be inebriated, and unable to get the word right on the first try.
Who needs a coaster to do that, I've already got my wife trained to do that for me.
My software never has bugs.
It just develops random features.
I have a better idea.
Hire bartenders who can see.
Thank you.
This one seems particulary stupid as if you don't put your beer back on the coaster accurately it'll _fall_over_.
Why not build the sensor into the bottom of the glass (possibly clip it onto the glass), which would allow you to put the glass down anywhere?
Worst BBC News Stories
When I first read the article title, I interperted it as some company had invented a roller coaster that was designed to keep the sum of the forces to zero, i.e. so you could ride it with a beer mug and no beer would fall out! -Chris
chests full of doubloons. Gar.
This is great, I feel an extension to this project comming on. In the olden days that stout waitress at the october fest had to search for empty beer mugs, nowadays we can use the DraughtFinder3000 based on antenna arrays combined with direction finding algorithms to detect empty beer mugs.
I know the SmartDesk2000 could solve this problem as well by programming the coasters to send the desk id together with the mug weight. However I always wanted to find an application for all this stuff I learnt at the university.
Cheers!
Je me souviens.
thank god there can still be advertising!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Intelligent waitress keeps beer mugs full.
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
I wonder if I could run Linux on it. . .
I'd love to build a beowulf cluster of these.
If I sat Natalie Portman on it, would it alert me when she needed service?
I bet a penis-bird could perch on one of these, but only up until about two or three beers.
I will not mention Goatse, I will not mention Goatse. . .
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
Very similar system in Cologne/Germany. Only we have much smaller glasses (0.2 liters) so it makes even more sense, because otherwise you would be ordering all the time.
;-) ).
If it's empty, you automatically get a new one (all visitors are mightily impressed when they first experience it provided they like beer). If you don't want more, you just leave a small amount in the glass. Unfortunately not all pubs are still doing this because many non-Cologne people get too confused.
I love it and wish other cities in Germany and around the world would do the same (maybe not in bavaria with their one liter glasses
1. Programmed to recognize different sizes when new mug is first set down. 2. Hard plastic. 3. Waterproof coaster, allow cardboard to slide in/out of a slot. 4. Make them cheap. 5. Have it signal a waitress to come over to offer a refill. 6. Use the coasters as a tool, rather than a controller.
Darn, from reading the headline, I thought someone had installed gyroscope-stablized cup holders in the Twister! But, this isn't nearly as interesting.
This is the capitalist way after all.
Anyone else think this was about a roller coaster with some smarts to keep you from spilling your beer?
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.