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Coca-Cola is launching vending machine subscriptions in Japan
Coca-Cola is launching a subscription service in Japan via its Coke on smartphone app that offers a soda per day for a monthly fee.
Spyware targeted proponents of Mexico's soda tax
Surveillance-oriented spyware is dodgy in itself, but it's even worse when it's abused to intimidate political enemies -- just ask Mexican health advocates. The New York Times has learned that someone used commercial spyware from NSO Group to target proponents of Mexico's soda tax, including researchers and activists, right as they were rallying support for doubling the tax. The attackers sent personalized messages that warned of bogus news (say, a daughter's accident) and urged the victims to tap a link. If they did, the hostile would infect their devices and track everything from messages to location. It'd even quietly record camera footage.
Keurig pulls the plug on its pod-based soda maker
Keurig may have locked up the rights to let you make your own Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, Snapple and more, but it wasn't enough to get the company's Kold machine into homes. Keurig Green Mountain announced today that the counter-top device was being discontinued after being on sale for less than a year. What's more, current customers can ask for a refund of the purchase price. For those willing to ride it out, the single-serving Kold pods are now available at a discount.
The Keurig Kold: You could just buy a mini-fridge instead
As I took Keurig's Kold machine out of its box, the first thought that ran through my head was, "Man, Alton Brown would hate this." You see, the Good Eats and Cutthroat Kitchen host has a vendetta against single-use kitchen gadgets: that is, products designed to do one thing and one thing alone. And it's usually a purpose that could easily be replicated by another doodad already living in your kitchen. In the case of the Kold, a device that dispenses single servings of cold drinks at the touch of a button, that doodad would be your fridge.
Nuka-Cola Quantum available in time for 'Fallout 4'
No one really knows what's in those bottles of Fallout Beer, but they likely won't hit US shores. What will however is Nuka-Cola Quantum. The folks at Fallout developer Bethesda have teamed up with the purveyors of funky fizzy drinks, Jones Soda, to put the "irradiated" refreshment on Target shelves just in time for Fallout 4's launch. Come November 10th, you'll be able to start slugging down what looks like the company's Berry Lemonade (a picture's embedded after the break) in preparation for what we're affectionately calling "Vault Day" here at Engadget. You know, what everyone else is referring to as November 10th, a.k.a. Fallout 4's release date.
Keurig's soda machine will let you make Dr. Pepper drinks
Keurig just got a big edge over SodaStream in the make-it-yourself beverage wars. The normally coffee-focused company has reached an exclusive deal that will let you make some of the Dr. Pepper Snapple group's drinks in its upcoming Keurig Cold machine, which arrives this fall. There's no mention of the exact brands, but it wouldn't be surprising if you get pod-based versions of big names besides Dr. Pepper or Snapple, like Canada Dry and Crush. Between this and a pact last year with Coca-Cola, about the only recognizable soft drinks you won't make with Keurig's machine are from Pepsi, which has been testing versions of its beverages with SodaStream. It's too soon to know if these on-demand versions of major drinks will taste like the real thing, but you at least won't have to settle for generic recipes when making fizzy liquids at home. [Image credit: Frankieleon, Flickr]
Angry Birds soda release makes for huge sales jump
Yes indeed: Angry Birds soda. A Nordic beverage company named Olvi got the rights from Rovio to make some Angry Birds-branded sugar water, and apparently it's a huge hit for them, raising the company's sales by 85 percent. Exports were especially huge, going from 3 percent of Olvi's market to a whole 20 percent, with exports focusing primarily on Spain, Norway and the UK. There's no indication that any of this drink has made it over to the United States for sale just yet, so if you have a chance to try some, you'll have to let us know how it tastes. Hopefully "eggy" isn't a word included in the description. This is far from the last we'll hear about Angry Birds merch, especially with that movie set to arrive in the next few years. You can bet that even bigger companies are looking at sales figures like this, and then lining up to make a deal with Rovio as fast as they can.
Olympia Circuits shows Arduino datalogger and Arno Add-Ons at Maker Faire 2013
Olympia Circuits is best known for its Arno board and Arno Shield, which are designed to ease the Arduino learning curve by providing a bevy of pre-wired sensors and controls along with detailed instructions for several DIY projects. The company announced a couple of new products at Maker Faire this past weekend: the Arno Digital RGB Add-On and the SODA HE-1.0 Arduino datalogger. With the former, your Arno simply gains three RGB LEDs, while the latter stands for "Simple, Open Data Acquisition, High Efficiency." It's an Arduino board with screw terminals designed around Atmel's ATmega32u4 that features a real-time clock (RTC) with battery backup, a high-precision ADC and a microSD card slot. The RTC can either wake the entire board or trigger an interrupt at set intervals, which makes the board very power efficient when used in the field. Olympia Circuits will be updating its website with more info shortly (including availability and pricing). Until then, don't miss our hands-on gallery below.%Gallery-188775%
Free Battlefield 3 skins and dog tags available through Dr. Pepper promotion
EA has signed on with Dr. Pepper to release some exclusive DLC for Battlefield 3 this week. Every specially marked bottle of Dr. Pepper has a code in it that you can redeem on the official Dr. Pepper site, and that code will earn you special DLC for the game. This includes mulitplayer skins and a PlayStation Home avatar, to various special edition dog tags to display. You can see the dog tag choices above; they're especially meme-y for some reason, like a whole six wolf moon to Hello Kitty, and a Rebecca Black-inspired beer bottle opener. If you don't want to shell out for the soda itself, you can get a free code through Dr. Pepper's website (though you can only select the content for one platform, so choose wisely). The promotion ends on December 31, so make sure you put them in by the end of 2011. And give thanks to the ever-lovin' gods of sugar water for the free BF3 DLC.
RFID-enabled vending machine ditches coinage, gets Mario Bros. tone (video)
A Twitter-enabled kitty door it is not, but this RFID-equipped soda machine is by far one of the most practical DIY projects we've seen in sometime. A Canadian tinkerer picked up this pop pusher a few years back, and has been using it to sling drinks in his building ever since. Unfortunately, finding the right change to feed the machine proved an issue for his neighbors, so he did what any logical hacker would do, and built in a contactless payment system. Using an Arduino, an Ethernet shield, an LCD screen, and an RFID reader, he created a system that allows customers to swipe a card and easily add funds from an online account. Best of all, every time you press that little blue button you get a Mario Bros. sample. Big ups, PopCARD. Video after the break.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: the dangers of LED lighting, self-healing nanotech, and spray-on solar power
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. This week Inhabitat shed light on the next generation of solar power as we showcased a spray-on film capable of generating 300% more energy than traditional photovoltaics and a new breed of nanotech cells that can heal themselves like plants. New biofuel projects also broke ground around the world as the US began construction on its first commercial biofuel plant and Canada upgraded a waste plant to be powered by soda and beer. And another farticle, er, article covers a project in Greenpoint, Brooklyn that takes the result of the results of those drinks (methane) and turns it into fuel. We also interviewed energy efficiency expert David Johnston, who shared 5 tips that could cut your electricity bill by up to 50 percent. And on a more sour energy efficiency note, we were appalled to see this new study that found that LEDs, like CFLs, also contain unsafe levels of carcinogenic toxins. The big (or should we say B.I.G) architecture news of the week was the unveiling of Bjarke Ingels Group's sloping residential pyramid for midtown Manhattan. In transportation news, Nissan revealed plans to roll out its Tesla-trouncing ESFLOW electric supercar at the Geneva Auto Show, while Chevrolet announced that the Volt will receive a $5,000 tax rebate in California. We also applauded the US government's $53 billion plan to jump start high speed rail, while republicans rallied against the movement towards more efficient infrastructure. We also showcased several stylish examples of wearable eco tech - a set of bio sensors that improve physical and emotional health, and a pair of GPS-enabled snow goggles that are perfect for shredding through uncharted territory. Finally, we shared 10 green iPad cases that are perfect for protecting your e-reader from blustery winter weather.
Refresh yourself with a DIY Nuka-Cola six pack
Is your palate in need of some cleansing after drinking that disgusting, irradiated toilet water? Why not slurp down some crisp, refreshing Nuka-Cola? "Because it's not a real thing," you say? You obviously haven't been following the efforts of Joel Guelzo, who recently made that dream a reality.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: of pedal-powered submarines and soda-powered fuel cells
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. This week, California saw a tremendous boost for solar power as the nation's first solar thermal plant in two decades was approved for Kern County. We also saw several incredible new approaches to generating alternative energy as researchers took crucial steps towards tapping the skies for lightning power and scientists unveiled a fuel cell battery that can be powered by soda. And if you can barely contain yourself at the prospect of pop-powered batteries, relax -- a team of scientists is also working on using urine to create low-cost fuel cells. This week we also watched green transportation take a plunge beneath the sea as French engineers unveiled an awesome pedal-powered submarine. Our neighbors to the north also broke news as students at the University of British Columbia embarked upon a record-setting trip across Canada in an electrified VW Beetle and three Canadian schools announced plans to create a car out of cannabis - hopefully it doesn't go up in smoke. Finally, we took a (sobering) look at the havoc that poor public transportation planning can wreak: a massive traffic jam in China that extended for more than 60 miles and 9 days. Speaking of students, here are a few projects to get you energized for the coming school year: a German tank armory was recently transformed into an ultra-modern solar-powered school, and we showcased some of the world's most incredible student-built structures. In other news, we brought you two dispatches from the realm of wearable tech - a new energy-harvesting film that could wire your wardrobe and a line of clothing that lets you send and receive phone calls. Can you hear me now?
World of Warcraft Game Fuel commercial hits the airwaves
People have only been able to get their hands on the WoW themed Mountain Dew Game Fuel within the last couple of weeks (and is only officially supposed to be in stores today), despite the months of hype being thrown behind the product. Throwing more gasoline on the hype-fire comes the new Game Fuel commercial, which you can watch above. Watch it a few times, actually. You may need it to fully comprehend what you've just watched.It's terrible. Nobody who actually plays WoW will find this commercial anything but corny. It's definitely not aimed at us. Or if it is, the people who made it probably... you know, shouldn't have been the ones to make it. And does it frighten anybody else that even though they used two females as the soda-swilling gamers, one of them turned into a dude? I mean, play whatever avatars you want in-game, but there's something disturbing about a pretty young lady hulking out and turning into a bulging green monstrosity. And I'm not talking She-Hulk. I'm talking a throbbing mass of masculine muscle. Augh. I'm not sure I want to let my girlfriend drink this stuff anymore.
New in-game battle bots connected to Mountain Dew?
Yesterday MMO-Champion posted a few new finds in the patch files. Namely a series of "Battle-bots" which act as a mini-pet. There's not many details as to what exactly they are or what they do, but it does look like there are several abilities we'll be able to control.Here's where it gets interesting. One bot state is blue, and one bot state is red. These blue and red colors match up pretty darn close to the Mountain Dew product that's on the horizon. Take a look after the break for side-by-side comparisons.But wait, there's more.
The Daily Grind: Doing the (WoW) dew?
Let's face it; it's Mountain Dew. Even if it weren't all tied up in Summoner Geeks pop-culture nerditry, we'd probably drink it anyway. So the idea of mixing Mountain Dew with World of Warcraft is essentially mating money to money and waiting patiently for more money to come out of it. The question is - how many of us will buy in on this? I already know most of the Massively team - and the WoW Insider team, of course - will pick some up if just for display. We figured we'd ask this morning, how likely are you to try World of Warcraft Mtn Dew? If WoW isn't your game, would you drink it if they made a variety for your favorite MMO - like low-sec EVE Black Mtn Dew as an example? Or will you just buy it because you'll be buying Mountain Dew anyway?
Sapient's touchscreen Coke machine brings pop into the 21st century
Man, it just isn't fair -- we keep seeing all these kick-ass new vending machines, but when we want a can of Mr. Pibb or RC Cola we're stuck feeding quarters into something that looks like it was last serviced whenever Pac-Man Fever went storming up the charts. Then again, that's probably what we get for spending all our time in pool halls and bowling alleys. If you're lucky enough to head to one of the 190-plus (and growing!) malls owned by the Simon Property Group sometime in the not too distant future, you just might have the pleasure of getting your cold, satisfying beverage from one of the new-fashioned touch screen Coke machines from Sapient. The screen is pretty much the entire front of the machine, and the interface is simple (as you'd expect), but pretty cool nonetheless -- select your pop bottle, spin it around, take a look at the ingredients, and vend -- quasi-Minority Report-style. "Futuretistic," no? This thing takes cash and plastic, and it should be out in the US soon enough -- readers in Europe and the UK will have to wait until sometime in 2010 to get in on the action. Video after the break.%Gallery-42386%[Thanks, Trent]
USB anion humidifier soda can confirms you shouldn't be allowed to have a credit card
Worried that retailers might be running out of utter crap to sell? Been looking for that perfect accessory to go with your "You don't have to be crazy to work here, but it helps" sign? Enter the USB-powered, soda can-shaped anion humidifier. Not only will this magical and totally necessary device clean the air around you and re-energize your fat, lazy body, but it will look cool while doing it -- you know, just sitting there being all soda-can-badass. When you absolutely, positively can't find anything else to do with $24.99, the "Portable Can Shape USB Office Home Miniature Anion Humidifier" is there.[Thanks, Simon]
The Onion spoofs WoW with the World of World of Warcraft
The Onion, a popular news satire site, has played off the World of Warcraft before with articles such as "Baby, you mean the World of Warcraft to me," but now they've taken it to the realm of video. The Onion News Network reports on Blizzard's latest (fictional) release, World of World of Warcraft. In it, you create a real life character and guide him or her through the process of playing World of Warcraft, helping them navigate the reading of the EULA and making sure they keep rested and fed with Hot Pockets and Soda. As usual with an Onion article that targets one of my personal hobbies or lifestyle, I'm never 100% sure whether to laugh or be offended -- but in the end I pretty much always err on the side of laughing. Actually, looking the "game" closely, it almost looks a bit like The Sims. You have a character who's modeled after a modern real life person, and you have to keep them happy, well-fed, rested, and entertained. And really, WoW is a pretty legitimate form of entertainment, I'd say. In that case, maybe The Onion is just looking forward to that day when all games are connected in some sort of seamless on-line mishmash of characters and personas. Then again, maybe it's just a funny video. Anyway, go watch it.
Ask Joystiq: On Monster Hunter, Tipsters and Soda
This week's Ask Joystiq: Monster Hunter 3, our tip line, our comment system and, most importantly, our soda preferences. If you have a question you want answered, drop us a line at ask AAT joystiq DAWT com. Let's get down to it:Q: Joystiq! I need some new info about Monster Hunter 3!!! Seriously, there is nothing out there. I know it is coming to Wii, but please tell me it is coming to the US.-MikeThe Monster Hunter series in Japan is quite a sales phenomenon -- one in five PSP owners have a copy of the game, according to Capcom. The same can't be said for North America, whose enthusiasm for the title has been noticeably less. Capcom gave us a rather lengthy statement on the issue (which we've printed after the break), but in a nutshell: the publisher is planning "a significant marketing program" for the Monster Hunter brand over the next two years in the west. "While we have not made specific announcements regarding Monster Hunter 3 in North America (or Europe, for that matter) to date," said the statement, "you can bet we'll be talking more about it in the future."
