Microsoft's SurfaceWare gets you drunk faster than drinks through a straw

It's just a kooky, Surface-related R&D project for now, but Microsoft's SurfaceWare holds the promise of optimizing your time-to-alcohol consumption ratio. Combining software with a level-sensing tumbler, SurfaceWare effectively measures the amount of liquid remaining in your glass. The specialized drinking glasses are fitted with a prism that works in combination with Surface's infrared detecting camera to reflect light as the prism rises above the level of your emptying beverage. Surface will then alert bar staff of your need or automatically purchase another round at just the right time. You certainly don't want to be wasting time in Vegas waiting on your disco fuel. Video walkthrough after the break.

[Thanks Divesh J.]

[)law( @ Oct 22nd 2008 3:38AM]

Excuse me waiter, I will have two shots of what the surfaceware is having, on the rocks.

[OneLove @ Oct 22nd 2008 11:24AM]

Microsoft just wants to get you drunk and fuck you.

[Mikeweezer @ Oct 22nd 2008 11:38PM]

'hey there Vista, you suddenly are looking kinda hot...'

[POW! @ Oct 22nd 2008 3:44AM]

gimme a robot that refills for me then i'll be a happy camper, on second thought, just gimme the whole damn bottle

[From My Cube @ Oct 22nd 2008 4:23AM]

give me a way to empty my bladder without making a fool of myself at the table and ill be a happy camper

[Metkis @ Oct 22nd 2008 5:09AM]

Supercollider? I just met her!...

And then they built the supercollider.

[Mark @ Oct 22nd 2008 3:47AM]

Something tells me this was Steve Balmer's idea!

And he probably thinks this surface thing will make touch screens and PCs as we know them OBSOLETE too!

[Wwhat @ Oct 22nd 2008 11:21PM]

I tend to agree, if you are a really drunk you don't care much for computers, so keeping you drunk makes computers obsolete, and with them touch screens.

[NakedOldGuy @ Oct 22nd 2008 3:50AM]

I forsee these stretching the length of a bar with games hefty drink prices in the next ten years. Tha'd be purdy cool, for a novelty.

[Jon Nelson @ Oct 22nd 2008 3:52AM]

Hell yeah, Microsoft, liquor me up!

[silver @ Oct 22nd 2008 4:03AM]

Does it work equally well with darker fluids such as juices? And what about coctail glasses or wine glasses that have legs? It seems like a neat party trick until it works with any glass out of the box.

[MikeWard1701 @ Oct 22nd 2008 5:53AM]

In theory the stem of wine/cocktail glasses, brandy snifters, and champagne flutes could be used as an extension to the prism. But you need to make the base is completely flat so there'd be no air pocket.

Also this system could possibly be thwarted by liquid/condensation on the bottom of the glass.

[Wwhat @ Oct 22nd 2008 11:24PM]

Maybe they should have gone with a tilt sensor, as the glass gets empty you tilt it more when you sip, when it reaches a certain angle you conclude it's getting empty, simple.

[Reader @ Oct 22nd 2008 4:09AM]

Sad face for craptastic Youtube bandwidth.

[MyHeadisFed @ Oct 23rd 2008 11:47AM]

Yeah youtube has really been the suck as of the past two weeks or so.

[Cunthor @ Oct 22nd 2008 4:10AM]

Hmmm, how will this work with a wine glass?

[MikeWard1701 @ Oct 22nd 2008 5:57AM]

Stem would act as an extension to the prism.

[John @ Oct 22nd 2008 7:14AM]

Who drinks wine at bars?

[MikeWard1701 @ Oct 22nd 2008 1:56PM]

Anyone who likes to drink wine in public I should imagine. There are even bars where wine is the prodominant drink, I believe they're called.... wine bars.

[Wwhat @ Oct 22nd 2008 11:25PM]

Another answer is: the french.

[Ian @ Oct 22nd 2008 4:10AM]

what about if i want a different kind of drink other then the one that is in front of me..

[Wwhat @ Oct 22nd 2008 11:27PM]

Uhm, we are phasing out choice as a matter of fact, it's the new world order (stress the 'order', with a loud voice)

[MyHeadisFed @ Oct 23rd 2008 11:53AM]

I'm pretty sure a bartender will come to you and ask you if you want something else to drink...not just OH HERE YA GO THE TABLE TOLD ME YOU NEEDED THIS! *pour* *walk away*..... It's a tool not a new system of getting drunk....The way a bar works will remain the same, just now bartenders will know when you need a drink and come to fill you up instead of flirting with the cute girl down the way.

[404 @ Oct 22nd 2008 4:21AM]

I can see anti drink-driving people jumping on this.

*Flashy light appears under your drink*
Did you know, you've just gone over the drink drive limit?
*Plays gory video of a crash*
That could be you....!

[From My Cube @ Oct 22nd 2008 4:25AM]

wrong place post is in the wrong place

[From My Cube @ Oct 22nd 2008 5:07AM]

great, they deleted all the dup wrong posts...now all my posts are out of place :(


low rank FTW

[Benson @ Oct 22nd 2008 5:41AM]

Some pretty serious self-pwnage going on here...

[From My Cube @ Oct 22nd 2008 4:26AM]

just becuase you post it twice doesnt make it in the right place

[From My Cube @ Oct 22nd 2008 4:27AM]

post wrong once...and be forgiven....post wrong twice...and be a noob

[From My Cube @ Oct 22nd 2008 4:28AM]

oh common now....i cant keep up with you...your a machine

[POW! @ Oct 22nd 2008 4:29AM]

how much of a fail can one stand for one night? still funny tho

[avis @ Oct 22nd 2008 4:30AM]

will the surface pay the bill as well, by reading the c card from my back pocket ? that's dangerous! and stealing! ..

may be it should alert the drinker (drunkard?) of consuming too many drinks in too short a time ;)

[avis @ Oct 22nd 2008 4:32AM]

one more pl..how sick one can get?

[avis @ Oct 22nd 2008 4:33AM]

one more pl..how sickening one can get?

[ben Murray @ Oct 22nd 2008 4:53AM]

How stable is it? I don't want to be finishing my beer then get it auto replaced by 12 creme de menthes

[Danger mouse @ Oct 22nd 2008 5:27AM]

What would happen if you chucked up over one of these surfaces in a bar?
Are they easy to wipe down? Will it analyze the (ex-)contents of your stomach?

[MikeWard1701 @ Oct 22nd 2008 6:18AM]

*danger mouse hurls over the surface*
*sad emoticon appears, though you can't see it for the vomit*
*staff are alerted to clean up, bouncer is alerted to move you to the kurb*

[clarence @ Oct 22nd 2008 8:53AM]

and they said microsoft isn't innovative *cough* apple fanbois *cough*

[Wwhat @ Oct 22nd 2008 11:34PM]

More MS innovation: http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/10/20/microsoft-patents-censoring

[chrismaltba @ Oct 22nd 2008 8:55AM]

This is just another way to screw me out of more booze. Those prisms are just going to keep getting bigger while the amount of alcohol in the cup gets smaller :(

[Darth Lord @ Oct 22nd 2008 8:59AM]

can this be integrated with a lap dance/table dance system?

[Valicore @ Oct 22nd 2008 12:45PM]

This is awesome, automatic refills on drinks, without even asking! Alcohol poisoning and "wait, where's my underwear?" FTW!