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Tech NewsNivea Is Testing In-Store Dispensers to Refill Soap Bottles and Reduce Plastic Waste
It’s now more apparent than ever that the conveniences of plastic packaging are being outweighed by the environmental impact of the problematic material. Ramping up recycling efforts and minimizing one-time-use plastics are critical to reducing plastic pollution, so Nivea is testing a new kiosk that refills soap containers several times before they’re sent off for … Continued
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Tech NewsI Have a Few Questions About This Bacon Vending Machine
It’s come to our attention that the Ohio State University now features a bacon vending machine. The technology was installed in the Animal Sciences Building at the university’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, and it dispenses servings of ready-to-eat bacon for $1 each. These basic facts have led me to ask a lot … Continued
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Tech NewsClever Teen Turns His Locker Into a Soda Machine
Most high school students struggle to write a passable essay on Catcher in the Rye, but Blake Hawkins has more than earned his high school diploma—and some spending money on the side—by turning an unused locker into a fully-functional soda can vending machine. Powered by an Arduino hidden away inside a battery-powered control panel, Hawkins’ … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
We Need to Be Inventing More Robots That Serve Humans Delicious Frozen Yogurt
Instead of building and designing bomb-laden autonomous drones, or humanoid robots like ATLAS who are probably going to overthrow humanity in a couple of years, researchers should be inventing robots like the Frobot vending machine that only exists to serve up frozen yogurt. The Frobot isn’t the first all-in-one machine designed to serve up frozen … Continued
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Tech NewsWe Should Turn All Rifles Into Candy Dispensers
Artist Constantine Zlatev, working with Kostadin Ilov, a computer scientist at UC Berkeley, has come up with a clever way to repurpose old weapons as candy dispensers so that they only pose a risk to a perfect smile. At the heart of The Candy Machine is a disabled Model 94 Winchester rifle featuring a lever-action … Continued
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Tech NewsBuild This Lego Coffee Maker and Never Leave Your Desk
Vending machines are usually terrible at making coffee, but the Lego savants over on the AstonishingStudios YouTube channel have built a vending machine from plastic bricks that serves up a hot cup of joe using Starbucks’ powdered coffee packets. Yes, it’s instant coffee, and won’t come anywhere near close to what you can get from … Continued
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Tech NewsBeverage-Dispensing Burger King Vending Machine Is a Lego Masterpiece
If YouTube’s AstonishingStudios was ever able to convince Lego to turn all of its creations into real sets, we’d never have to leave our desks to get breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Their latest creation is a Burger King vending machine that serves up fries, Whoppers, and even dispenses Coca-Cola. Powered by a Lego Mindstorms module … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
$10,000 For Your Own Private Jelly Belly Vending Machine Sounds Totally Reasonable
You can find Jelly Belly jelly beans at almost any store, but that involves actually getting up and going somewhere to satisfy your sweet tooth. Why go through all that hassle when for just over $10,300 you can buy your own personal Jelly Belly vending machine and set it up right next to your desk … Continued
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Tech NewsAdd Fresh Baked Baguettes to the List of Things You Can Buy From a Vending Machine
Compared to countries like Japan, and most of Europe, the US is decidedly trailing when it comes to vending machine technology. But thanks to a machine called the Le Bread Xpress, hungry Americans who are pressed for time can now grab a freshly baked baguette from a machine in less than 20 seconds. The machines … Continued
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Tech NewsSweep Everything Off Your Desk and Make Room for This Lego Pizza Hut Machine
The latest addition to Astonishing Studio’s line of “sets Lego should really be making” is a miniature Pizza Hut that dispenses personal pan pizzas after you feed it five dollars using a working currency slot. Imagine having pizza on-demand at your desk at all times, suddenly you’ll look forward to going to work. Because it’s … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidHow Do Vending Machines Tell the Difference Between Fake Coins and Real Coins?
One of my life dreams as a child was to be able to fool a vending machine with quarter-like objects. I mean, how smart could a vending machine be, right? Wrong. More like how dumb a kid I was. Vending machines use light sensors to measure the size of a coin and electromagnets to detect … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsWho Wouldn’t Want a Lego Cheerios Machine to Make Your Breakfast?
Getting up in the mornings can sometimes feel like a daunting task—sometimes preparing yourself breakfast, even just a simple bowl of cereal, even more so. Wouldn’t all be better off if we could just build a machine out of Lego to do it all for us instead? Probably. I look forward to our Lego vending … Continued
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Tech NewsDon’t Pretend You Wouldn’t Want a Lego McNuggets Vending Machine at Your Desk
Despite their sketchy pink goop origins, those consistently-shaped McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets are too addictive to ever give up. And you can lie to yourself all you want, but deep down you know you want this Lego McNuggets vending machine sitting in the corner of your office. Powered by Lego Mindstorms, the vending machine can intelligently … Continued
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Tech News
7 More Viral Photos That Are Totally Fake
Hundreds of images flash in front of our eyes each week as we navigate this strange machine we call the internet. But sometimes those images are lying to us. The following lies are culled from the bits and bytes that came through the tubes over the past few weeks. 1) Are these school lunches from … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Self-Serve Beer Vending Machines Are Coming to the Ballpark
The Minnesota Twins’ Target Field will be one of the first sports venues in the country to introduce DraftServ’s beer vending machines, which will reduce the long lines at concession stands, help regulate alcohol consumption, and give attendees more choice when it comes to what they’re drinking. Customers first need to visit a manned register … Continued
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Tech News
Single Vending Machine Replaces Last Shop in English Town
So clever, so depressing: the English town of Clifton, having dwindled in economic strength over the years, has responded to the loss of its last place to shop with a giant vending machine. The so-called Speedy Shop—really, an over-sized, building-shaped machine standing alone in a dreary parking lot—is meant to help bring some economic life … Continued
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Tech News
Your Next Soda Could Come With Internet Access
Looks like the way we drink soda is about to get a whole lot smarter—or, at the very least, more connected. OpenStack Engineering Manager Alavaro Lopez Ortega stumbled acrossthe fact that The Coca Cola Company recently registered no less than 16 million MAC (media access control) addresses. The question is: What exactly is Coke planning … Continued
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io9This vending machine only gives you coffee when you yawn
Douwe Egberts is a Dutch producer of coffeemakers. Direct is a very clever South African advertising agency. Combine the two, and what do you get? An awesome vending machine in Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport that distributes free cups of coffee to the people it sees yawn. As the video explains, there’s some rather impressive … Continued
By Rob Bricken -
Tech News
9 Vintage Vending Machines From a Time When They’d Sell Anything
Vending machines didn’t always just sling soda and smokes. Did you know the automated peddlers have been around for about two thousand years? In fact, the very first vending machine was invented by first-century mathematician Hero of Alexandria to dispense holy water using a series of valves, pulleys, and weights. And they’ve been stuffed with … Continued
By Leslie Horn -
Tech News
Vending Machines For Pot Products Exist Now
Let’s be real here, what could come from a URL like www.thedispensingsolution.com BUT a vending machine for pot? Medbox, the company that produces the $50,000 units, is ramping up and attempting to place them in dispensaries around the country. Consumers can’t walk up to a Medbox and feed it their cash, but they can tell … Continued