Wireless Devices For Bartenders?

[Brad Adrian]

<a href="http://www.wirelessnewsfactor.com/perl/story/17133.html">http://www.wirelessnewsfactor.com/perl/story/17133.html</a><br /><br />Okay, here's an application of wireless technology and PDAs that even I hadn't considered. WirelessNewsFactor has a story about how Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories has created a wirelessly-enabled glass that can automatically notify bartenders and other servers when you need a refill.<br /><br />"Each glass contains a microchip that derives power from a radio-frequency coil inside the base. The glass is coated with a conducting material that enables it to serve as a capacitor, which monitors changes in the level of liquid it holds...The microchip not only continually reads the change in capacitance and uses the embedded coil to notify when the customer needs a refill, it also contains a code that identifies a specific glass and the table where it is being used. <b>Information from the smart glass can be sent to a handheld device carried by the server</b>, for instance, or to a receiver behind the bar."<br /><br />I'm not sure how rapidly this might be embraced, but if they could just add a tilt sensor that automatically tells a waiter when my child knocks her glass of milk over, they just might have something!

[mhynek]

I think the concept is nice but would only work in an upscale bar. If you tried to bring that technology into an area like Rush & Division in Chicago, it wouldn't even get in the door. Why? This is an EXTREMELY high volume area with most bars using plastic cups to avoid cleaning and breaking too many glasses during the mayhem. However, at say, Green Dolphin Street (a jazz club in Chicago) where the clientel drink scotch and smoke cigars, it would be a perfect fit. I'm guessing it will be a niche market at best, but cool none the less. 8)

[Canuck]

Here in Toronto where the Raptors and Maple Leafs play, waiters with tablet computers quietly are in the stands. When you call them you can order anything from a menu, from Pizza and Beer to Sushi. They just tap it in and it your order is wirelessly sent to the food prep area, where another waiter brings it to your seat in the stands. You pay the person, and can even use credit or debit cards, all wirelessly without leaving your seat. Granted, its really expensive, but its a great way to enjoy a basketball or hockey game!

I don't know what kind of hardware or software is used in these tablets.

[Master O'Mayhem]

I am not even going to comment on this one ;)

[feo]

Just think how popular it could get if they were to come up with a 'diaper' model...

[JMountford]

Never will happen. GMs and Owners of Food Service Estabolishments are so notoriously cheap. Nice thought though. I don't expect to see it at the local Golden Coral any time soon. A good solution to low cups is tip the waiter well.