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Beyond Meat's plant-based 'chicken' is coming to KFC locations across the US
Starting on January 10th, Beyond Fried Chicken will be available at restaurants for a limited time.
KFC hopes to develop the first lab-made chicken nuggets
KFC is teaming with a 3D bioprinting company to make the first lab-made chicken nuggets.
KFC's plant-based 'chicken' sold out in five hours
There's little doubt that plant-based meat substitutes have been popular, but when's the last time they triggered the kind of frenzies associated with movie aficionados and sneaker hypebeasts? Today, apparently. Beyond Meat and KFC have revealed that their Beyond Fried Chicken test in Atlanta sold out in less than five hours on August 27th, with lines "wrapped around the restaurant" from the moment the store opened. Restaurants only have so much food to go around in general, but this was apparently no mean feat -- KFC sold as much of the meatless 'chicken' as it typically sells popcorn chicken in a week.
KFC is testing Beyond Meat 'chicken' in an Atlanta restaurant
Plant-based meat substitutes may soon be an option for fast food chicken. CNBC reports that KFC will start testing Beyond Fried Chicken at an Atlanta restaurant on August 27th. Yes, you could grab a bucket of chicken without feeling quite so guilty -- or greasy, if Beyond Meat's earlier work is any indication. Whether or not availability grows will depend on feedback, but other restaurant chains (such as Del Taco) have seen upticks in demand since adding meat substitutes.
This pea-based chicken alternative was inspired by hagfish slime
Another company wants to get in on the animal-free meat trend. The Swiss company Planted hopes to do for chicken what Impossible Foods did for beef. It claims its planted.chicken -- made from pea protein, pea fiber, water and sunflower oil -- is indistinguishable from the real thing, and as a meat alternative, it avoids some of the ethical and environmental concerns that come with raising poultry.
KFC's latest weird tech suggests an order based on your face
KFC is no stranger to getting funky in order to sell its chicken but this one is really out there. The company's Chinese division is partnering with Baidu to create a smart restaurant which will recommend meals based on the customer's looks. Specifically, the restaurant's ordering kiosks, which are powered by Baidu's computer vision systems, will look at the customer's age, gender and facial expressions to make educated guesses as to what they might be in the mood for. A guy in his 20s, for example, is far more likely to order a big meal with a large soda for lunch than, say, a 75 year-old granny who walks in at 8am. These are just suggestions of course, it's not like you have to eat what it recommends (yet) but if you're a regular, the kiosks will remember your previous order and recommend that as well. Don't get weird about that last bit, it's no different than the bartender at your local pub remembering your drink order from last time. For now, the facial recognition kiosks are confined to the single smart restaurant, located in Beijing, but if it's a hit with the public, the technology will hopefully spread.
Terahertz scans could save male chicks from an untimely end
Chicken hatcheries often grind up male chicks as soon as they break out of their shells -- they don't produce enough meat as adults, so they're considered useless compared to the egg-laying females. It's not exactly compassionate, and it wastes money as hatcheries incubate eggs they'll never use. However, technology might just have a way to prevent such a horrifying fate. Vital Farms and Novatrans are partnering on TeraEgg, a technology that uses terahertz spectroscopy to identify the sex of a chicken well before it hatches. The technique traps and analyzes the gas emanating from the pores of eggs, identifying the sex (or infertility) within seconds. You can use it as soon as 2 days after the hen lays her eggs, or early enough that you can sell the male eggs as food.
KFC-flavored nail polish gives new meaning to 'chicken fingers'
KFC is taking its "finger lickin' good" slogan a bit too far. The fried chicken fast food chain made two "edible" fingernail polishes for its fans in Hong Kong. Teaming up with ad agency Ogilvy & Mather and food experts at McCormick, two shades were created that incorporate the restaurant's top secret blend of 11 herbs and spices: Original Recipe and Hot & Spicy.
Even chickens have their own virtual world
How much would you pay for organic, virtual free-range chicken breasts? It doesn't really matter, you can't buy such a thing. But Austin Stewart, an assistant professor at Iowa State University, really seems to like the idea. He's been traveling the country showing off Second Livestock, a concept that takes cooped-up poultry and grants them the gift of being free-range through virtual reality headsets and an omni-directional treadmill. The truth is, despite Stewart's stone-faced presentations, that Second Livestock is not a real thing, and it likely never will be. But it is meant to showcase just how much we rely on technology to solve our myriad problems and how it impacts our own lives.
Chicken hockey returns to Lord of the Rings Online
Even Hobbits need to pick on something smaller than they are, which is why the little folk (and the big 'uns too) are glad that they now can smack chickens across a field with a stick in Lord of the Rings Online. Hobnanigans, also known as "chicken ball" and "chicken hockey," is returning to LotRO for a limited time event. Teams can take to a special field in Bree-land to attempt to knock chickens through the opposing side's goal. The two teams at play are the Flying Feathers and the Steel Beaks. The current Hobnanigans event will take place from May 9th through 11th. The mini-game previously appeared in LotRO only once back in 2007.
Georgia Tech develops poultry deboning robot / chicken nightmare machine
If you have any chickens in the house, you're going to want to keep them away from the computer. Georgia Tech researchers have developed the device that will haunt their feathered dreams. The prototype Intelligent Cutting and Deboning System has a built-in 3D vision system in order to help it cut and debone a chicken. The robot uses collected data and custom algorithms to help reduce bone fragments and increase yield on birds, whilst ensuring that no fowl with ever get a full night's sleep again. The school has begun testing the system, as evidenced by the unfortunate bird picture above. Press release after the break, if you're not too chicken.
Fallen Earth's spiked chopper debuts in new trailer
Why did the Fallen Earth chicken cross the road? To get a closer look at the game's new choppers of course. When we say choppers, we mean badass bikes and not helicopters (although that would be cool too -- chop chop GamersFirst). Anyway, as we reported earlier this week, Wednesday marks the final day to subscribe to Fallen Earth prior to its free-to-play/hybrid makeover, and the faithful will receive a new spiked chopper mount for their trouble. You can take a good long look at the bike -- as well as plenty of post-apocalyptic wasteland visuals and the aforementioned chicken -- in the latest game trailer after the cut.
Hitachi glasses-free 3D technology lets you view weird chicken things from multiple angles
We might not have chosen the above weird baby chick to pitch our autostereoscopic technology to the world, but at least it makes for some memorable imagery. The hatchling is a 3D image generated by projectors, overlayed on top of a real world object, which can be viewed by multiple people at multiple angles without the need for 3D glasses. Built-in sensors detect the viewer's positions and adjust the viewing angle accordingly. Of course, this isn't the first time we've seen this sort of technology -- heck, this isn't even the first time we've seen this sort of thing from Hitachi, but the company says it's continually getting better, with a marked depth resolution improvement over a technology shown off this time last year at CEATEC. The company is looking to implement the technology for both digital signage and entertainment purposes, eventually revolutionizing the way the world looks at 3D baby chickens.
The Road to Mordor: 10 things to do in the Shire before you die
A couple of weeks ago I decided to embark on a long-planned project to play through the entirety of Lord of the Rings Online -- or at least a whole heck of a lot more than I ever have previously. My thought was that in the rush to level and progress, I had been skipping much of the content that makes LotRO so unique, and I wanted to force myself to slow down, take it all in, and get over the desire to hit endgame as quickly as possible. Thus, I created Slyppi, a brand-new level 1 Hobbit Burglar with the intention of experiencing the game in full. My rules with Slyppi are thus: She will clear out every solo quest in a zone (including the epic storyline but excluding tasks) before moving elsewhere. She will go through all three newbie zones and ignore the fact that the quests aren't giving her much XP. She will take detailed notes, package them up, and send them back to me for the purposes of turning them into a guide to the interesting out-of-the-way quests and places in Middle-earth. If you're anything like me, you probably die a lot, usually in very embarrassing ways (hey, that cliff wasn't there a minute ago...). Since we all have a death warrant on our heads, we might as well get the most out of our journeys, which is why I've come up with 10 things that you should do in the Shire before the inevitable occurs. Why 10? Because it's two in computer-speak!
The Road to Mordor: You're the best around, nothing's gonna ever keep you down!
Two semi-stunning thoughts hit me this week. The first is that March 5th marks the debut of my very first column on Massively a year ago, and I still have my life and sanity intact. The second is that even with the release of RIFT, which I'm playing, I still feel compelled to play Lord of the Rings Online just as much -- if not more -- than the new shiny on the block. These thoughts are related after a fashion, so just hang in there with me. When I first came on board Massively and chose the game I'd be following for a presumably lengthy stretch of time, only LotRO seemed as though it would fit the bill. I knew it was a great game from experience and that I had a lot to do, see and learn about it, and I'd hoped that it had a lot in store to keep me from getting bored. Still, I was worried that I would lose interest after six months or so, as I'm a habitual MMO sampler. Could I settle down and form a serious relationship with an MMO like this? It turns out that yes, yes I could -- and quite easily at that. While I had liked LotRO before last year, these past 12 months have helped me form a deep appreciation and connection with this version of Middle-earth. This relationship has held firm even as I've dabbled -- or dived in deep -- with other MMOs, because there's something LotRO has that I've never experienced in another MMORPG. So what is it about this world that sets it apart and has endeared itself to me?
WiFi Direct helps you kill space chickens without an access point (hands-on)
The urge to kill a chicken is surprisingly strong when operating in the dead space between sleep deprivation and a caffeinated buzz of hyper alertness. The fact that the beast is giant and in space makes it downright compulsive especially when given the opportunity to team up in combat with Max Planck over an 802.11n WiFi Direct connection... without an access point and without any lag. This isn't your father's Bluetooth connection, son. See the carnage go down after the break.
Chicken-based camera stabilization more effective than the human head mount (video)
As you're undoubtedly well aware, the chicken's vestibulo-ocular reflex and gaze stabilizing function (Google it!) is highly evolved, making it just the thing for steadying your camera. Of course, you need access to live poultry, a tiny camera, some sort of rubber band, and the patience and skill to befriend a rooster and bring him to your film shoots. You've already seen one loyal Engadget reader's fledgling attempts at the Chicken Powered Steadicam™, but you can rest assured that this fowl gadget (groan) is constantly in development. Check out our friend Jeremiah's video after the break to see comparison shots between a rooster cam, a handheld camera, and one just sort of strapped to Jeremiah's head.
The Road to Mordor: A conspiracy of hats
The hat, as they say, makes the man. Or the woman. Or the Dwarf. Unfortunately, in Lord of the Rings Online, the hat often makes the man completely silly. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but the hats in LotRO have garnered the reputation as being goofy as all get out. Sure, this is hardly a fresh observation, but I've wanted to address it in this column for a while now, so it might as well be today! Rumor has it that Turbine's artists drew upon actual medieval outfits to lend an authentic, renaissance faire vibe to the game. This is perhaps why there is such a distinct fashion style in LotRO that you don't see in other MMOs. Our modern sensibilities, with such fashion achievements as tank tops and crocs, make hauberks and codpieces seem quaint and ridiculous. Truly, we are seeing the height of human civilization in 2010. So while it's laudable that Turbine tried to give us the real deal, that doesn't quite excuse the fact that many of the hats -- especially the light armor versions -- are unbearably weird. It's as if, as The Pix'led Life speculated, there's a conspiracy of hats afoot: "Let's see what we can make them swallow!" one artist cackles. "Ooh, I know -- how about 16 varieties of dunce hats?" laughs another. I kid, I kid. There are 17. Hit the jump and let's take a terrifying journey through headgear that seeks to conquer Sauron by making the Enemy laugh himself to death.
Chicken Powered Steadicam proves poultry has a future in Hollywood (video)
If you've decided to use a full-fledged Steadicam in your next indie blockbuster you'd better make sure you have the budget -- they can run upwards of $45,000. Sure, there are cheaper options out there, some more sophisticated than others, but none are quite as amazing as this. It's the Chicken Powered Steadicam from Pennywhistle Productions and it is, quite simply, a chicken with a camera on its head, making use of the bird's stabilizing vestibulo-ocular reflex. In the video, embedded for your enjoyment below, you can see that version 1.0 didn't go so well. So, our intrepid barnyard cinematographer quickly advances to version 2.0 -- "a much bigger rooster." While the video quality is low the effect is actually quite well done, but it's the ending that really makes it all come together. Just watch the video, we won't ruin the surprise.
Breaking: chicken came before the (chicken) egg
Don't ask us why British researchers are spending their time trying to solve the age-old "who came first" conundrum, but apparently solve it they have done. Lab dwellers from the universities of Sheffield and Warwick share the distinction of identifying the particular effects of a particular protein -- ovocleidin-17, found only in chickens' ovaries -- on the development of the egg's shell. It would seem that without OC-17 converting calcium carbonate into calcite crystals, one couldn't have an eggshell, meaning that the chicken and its special protein powers had to have developed first. How the world's going to react to having one of its favorite clichés wrestled away has yet to be determined. Update: Seems like we didn't make it clear enough that these findings relate specifically to chicken eggs. We're well aware that dragons dinosaurs have plenty of prior art on chickens when it comes to laying shelled embryo chambers.
