DailyDirt: Smarter Soda Machines

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Fri, Oct 12th 2012 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Water fountains have improved somewhat over the years, but soda machines are really getting quite advanced. Not just limited to refrigerating sugary beverages, these vending machines are going to start tracking consumer behavior and offering some entertainment along with a frosty refreshment. Here are just a few examples of high-tech vending machines trying to connect with customers to sell more soft drinks.

A Coca-Cola vending machine in South Korea will dispense free Cokes if you dance for your drink. The machine uses a Kinect controller and promises not to make fun of your Gangnam-style moves. [url]
Intel has demoed a Coke machine that uses one of its Core i7 processors so that it can handle a giant touchscreen interface with interactive videos. Hopefully, the blue screen of death won't inconvenience too many thirsty patrons. [url]
Vending machines are going to start telling you how many calories are in the beverages they sell. Pretty soon, these machines will also start guessing your BMI and suggesting diet sodas... [url]
The Coca-Cola Hug Machine was dispensing free drinks to people who hugged the vending machine. Getting to first base with the soda machine didn't offer any additional benefits. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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Filed Under: beverages, kinect, pop, soda, vending machines
Companies: coca cola, intel

8 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 12 Oct 2012 @ 5:56pm

I can just see it now...
When the processor in a soda machine costs more than all the sodas in the machine itself, there'll be high-tech thieves extracting those cores....
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Oct 2012 @ 5:58pm

what's that old joke?
imagine a Beowulf cluster of those coke machines?
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Austin (profile), 12 Oct 2012 @ 9:20pm

Blue Screen of Death?
More like Blue Screen of Thirst.

Though really, they should just put Linux on these. My motto is "if it's good enough for NASA and a wristwatch, it's good enough for anything." Especially since you can install it on a dishwasher. Not all THAT different from a coke machine, really.
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Pixelation, 12 Oct 2012 @ 11:55pm

" Getting to first base with the soda machine didn't offer any additional benefits."

Uh, Michael, you did what?
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@, 13 Oct 2012 @ 11:37am

Anybody here tried the thing where you push the soda selection buttons in a certain order and hold down the coin return lever and it's supposed to eject all the change in the machine? Does it really work?
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Oct 2012 @ 5:18pm

Re:
A lot of these use the default password "4231" (i.e., 4th button, then 2nd, etc., going left-to-right then top-to-bottom). You can see the sales statistics, error logs, and some other things, but AFAIK can't reprogram the machine or make it dispense money/product.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Oct 2012 @ 9:44pm

Here's what really happened to that Coca Cola drinking polar bear.
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chirs, 6 Jul 2014 @ 8:36am

Home | Healthy to the MAX
The MAX! Healthy Vending machine dispenses cold drinks and snack, as well as room temperature snacks.
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