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Plinkey
Aug 4, 2004

by Fluffdaddy
Well they better hurry up and put out my half powerade blue half lime sprite hangover cure.

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Mercedes Colomar
Nov 1, 2008

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
So since no one's actually posted how they work, just speculation. Here is a look inside one. I never quite figured out if the modifiers are powder or liquid, but I'd assume liquid.

ishikabibble
Jan 21, 2012

Manuel Calavera posted:

So since no one's actually posted how they work, just speculation. Here is a look inside one. I never quite figured out if the modifiers are powder or liquid, but I'd assume liquid.

quote:

Old cartridges are just thrown away. The guy working it said the syrup is so highly concentrated that if you get any on your clothes, you are just going to have to throw them away.

Samizdata
May 14, 2007

Plinkey posted:

They have these in the US, I think it's seagrams though.



e: Every submenu after your base drink has like 10 flavors.

I will have to look next time I am at a restaurant with one. Cheers!

EoRaptor
Sep 13, 2003



twistedmentat posted:

Yea, those are all over the place in Toronto. They're great because you can choose a massive number of flavors as was mentioned. There are Pepsi ones at Subway now, but they always taste manky.

I am perfectly sure that the Freestyle machines are secretly doing market research for coke so they know if there is enough demand for Coke Lime or Coke Orange.

The Pepsi ones fail all sorts of usability tests, as the the machine lags behind responding to and updating the interface very blatently. It's also not obvious you can select multiple flavours just by tapping them. I never had one that tasted bad, but they will run a bit of the previous flavour, so make your selection, wait for it to pour a half-second, then jam your cup in there.

If I was a Coke (or Pepsi) shareholder, I'd sue if they weren't harvesting every iota of data possible from these machines. There is so much to be learned, and so many possibilities for A/B testing of products, that not having the ability would be negligent. Also Orange Coke Zero is surprisingly good.

Zonekeeper
Oct 27, 2007



twistedmentat posted:

I am perfectly sure that the Freestyle machines are secretly doing market research for coke so they know if there is enough demand for Coke Lime or Coke Orange.

Oddly enough, those two particular combinations work pretty well and are some of my regular choices when I use one of those machines.

Aphrodite
Jun 27, 2006

The Pepsi ones don't have anything different really. You can make vanilla Pepsi or cherry Pepsi, but they already sell those anyway.

ColHannibal
Sep 17, 2007

Manuel Calavera posted:

So since no one's actually posted how they work, just speculation. Here is a look inside one. I never quite figured out if the modifiers are powder or liquid, but I'd assume liquid.

So an inkjet printer.

Plinkey
Aug 4, 2004

by Fluffdaddy

ColHannibal posted:

So an inkjet printer.

Refills are probably cheaper than ink.

ColHannibal
Sep 17, 2007
The funny thing is they must have their calibration on point, normal soda is not actually that dilute (unlike the s odd steam stuff which is like a much lower ratio to water) so it's more consistent.

I've worked with crazy high concentrated flavors and colors and I agree with the throwing cloths away thing, it will ruin a washing machine.

Platystemon
Feb 13, 2012

as a person who never leaves my house i've done pretty well for myself.

Aphrodite posted:

The Pepsi ones don't have anything different really. You can make vanilla Pepsi or cherry Pepsi, but they already sell those anyway.

Yeah but too many conventional soda fountains lack them.

Humbug Scoolbus
Apr 25, 2008

The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.
Clapping Larry

Samizdata posted:

I will have to look next time I am at a restaurant with one. Cheers!

Jack in the Box has them in the East Bay.

twistedmentat
Nov 21, 2003

Its my party
and I'll die if
I want to

Zonekeeper posted:

Oddly enough, those two particular combinations work pretty well and are some of my regular choices when I use one of those machines.

Yep, mine too. I think I prefer the lime more, because coke orange tastes like old classic kids drink swamp water. That's when you put some of all the pops in a cup, the orange always over powers the rest.

moller
Jan 10, 2007

Swan stole my music and framed me!

suicide

Are you Canadian?

moller has a new favorite as of 08:45 on Jun 10, 2016

You Are A Werewolf
Apr 26, 2010

Black Gold!

Back in the 80s and early 90s, my mom used to work in a hospital. In said hospital, they had a coffee vending machine in the cafeteria that must have been there at least a decade prior. Chrome and dark woodgrain as far as the eye can see. 35¢ got you a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. The coffee was just a hint of brewed coffee in some hot water with your choice of creamer and sugar added to it it that was pretty bland, but serviceable. I'm sure a lot of doctors and nurses working long shifts swore by it at the time.

The hot chocolate, however, from that thing was loving amaaaaaaaaazing :coffeepal:

Welp, that's my beverage vending story. Thanks for reading!

Wanamingo
Feb 22, 2008

by FactsAreUseless

You Are A Elf posted:

Back in the 80s and early 90s, my mom used to work in a hospital. In said hospital, they had a coffee vending machine in the cafeteria that must have been there at least a decade prior. Chrome and dark woodgrain as far as the eye can see. 35¢ got you a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. The coffee was just a hint of brewed coffee in some hot water with your choice of creamer and sugar added to it it that was pretty bland, but serviceable. I'm sure a lot of doctors and nurses working long shifts swore by it at the time.

The hot chocolate, however, from that thing was loving amaaaaaaaaazing :coffeepal:

Welp, that's my beverage vending story. Thanks for reading!

The last place I worked had a machine that made some really good hot chocolate on demand, and we could use it as much as we wanted. I ended up drinking way too much cocoa in the short two months I spent there before I quit.

spog
Aug 7, 2004

It's your own bloody fault.

You Are A Elf posted:

Back in the 80s and early 90s, my mom used to work in a hospital. In said hospital, they had a coffee vending machine in the cafeteria that must have been there at least a decade prior. Chrome and dark woodgrain as far as the eye can see. 35¢ got you a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. The coffee was just a hint of brewed coffee in some hot water with your choice of creamer and sugar added to it it that was pretty bland, but serviceable. I'm sure a lot of doctors and nurses working long shifts swore by it at the time.

The hot chocolate, however, from that thing was loving amaaaaaaaaazing :coffeepal:

Welp, that's my beverage vending story. Thanks for reading!

It may be back in 1992, but I can still remember that '148' was the code for 'Coffee, whipped, extra sugar, extra milk' and it tasted like honey from heaven.

It was utterly artificial powdered crap, but drat it, it hit the spot.

mobby_6kl
Aug 9, 2009

Wanamingo posted:

The last place I worked had a machine that made some really good hot chocolate on demand, and we could use it as much as we wanted. I ended up drinking way too much cocoa in the short two months I spent there before I quit.

We have this now, there are two machines on different floors that make it slightly differently - one is more milky and creamy and the other more chocolaty. What saves me from certain death is that they both are in a different building than the one I'm in (our machine only does coffee) so it's way too much effort to get them.

mobby_6kl has a new favorite as of 10:47 on Jun 10, 2016

Serperoth
Feb 21, 2013



twistedmentat posted:

I am perfectly sure that the Freestyle machines are secretly doing market research for coke so they know if there is enough demand for Coke Lime or Coke Orange.

If Coke Lime ever happens I'm selling all my organs except kidneys, and buying enough shares in Coca-Cola Co. to guarantee me free lifetime Coke Lime. I made some myself last summer, just juicing a lime inside a half litre bottle of Coke and it was divine.


You Are A Elf posted:


The hot chocolate, however, from that thing was loving amaaaaaaaaazing :coffeepal:

Welp, that's my beverage vending story. Thanks for reading!

What is it about vending machine chocolate that makes it so good? I've never had bad vending machine hot chocolate. I had a semester in France and either one of the 40c cup at the dorms or the 35c cup at the classrooms was way too good than it had any right to be.
The lemon tea at the dorms left a lot to be desired, it was like hot Ice Tea. Not entirely terrible as a morning pick-me-up, but not my cup of tea ( :v: ). Classroom machines had nice tea at times, but often the lemon and mint would get mixed up, unfortunately, so I stuck with chocolate.

KozmoNaut
Apr 23, 2008

Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle


Serperoth posted:

If Coke Lime ever happens I'm selling all my organs except kidneys, and buying enough shares in Coca-Cola Co. to guarantee me free lifetime Coke Lime. I made some myself last summer, just juicing a lime inside a half litre bottle of Coke and it was divine.

Uh

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_with_Lime

They tried, and it failed.

Also, there's Pepsi Lime in Canada, and there are lemon versions of both Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

Jedit
Dec 10, 2011

Proudly supporting vanilla legends 1994-2014


You can still get Coke with Citrus in the UK, I think. Coke Lime was foul, though, so I've never tried it.

And a few years back you could get Coke with blood orange in France. That was nice.

RagnarokAngel
Oct 5, 2006

Black Magic Extraordinaire
I believe orange coke exists in some asian markets too. Basically the machines let them bring obscure flavors everywhere without the cost of individual syrups.

Collateral Damage
Jun 13, 2009

Coke with lime is nice. Coke Lime was an abomination that had very little with either coke or lime to do.

Lurking Haro
Oct 27, 2009

RagnarokAngel posted:

I believe orange coke exists in some asian markets too. Basically the machines let them bring obscure flavors everywhere without the cost of individual syrups.

Orange cola is widely available in the country of Fanta, Germany.

Imagined
Feb 2, 2007
If that hot chocolate vending machine was anything like the ones I had to clean daily at one place I worked, the inside would be a horror show because of the aerosolyzed fine chocolate powder floating around the humid, steamy interior of the machine and coating everything inside with a thick chocolate patina.

champagne posting
Apr 5, 2006

YOU ARE A BRAIN
IN A BUNKER

Imagined posted:

If that hot chocolate vending machine was anything like the ones I had to clean daily at one place I worked, the inside would be a horror show because of the aerosolyzed fine chocolate powder floating around the humid, steamy interior of the machine and coating everything inside with a thick chocolate patina.

Never, ever, go to a chocolate factory

RoyKeen
Jul 24, 2007

Grimey Drawer
Coke with some Kiwi juice is pretty good. I know this will never be a thing.

Computer viking
May 30, 2011
Now with less breakage.

Lurking Haro posted:

Orange cola is widely available in the country of Fanta, Germany.

Branded as Mezzo Mix when its made by Coca Cola, for some reason. I'd forgotten that the Pepsi take on it is called Schwip Schwap, which is fantastic.

Computer viking has a new favorite as of 14:23 on Jun 10, 2016

Pilsner
Nov 23, 2002

Something I've noticed for a long time that's just godawful: American light switches and wall plugs. Example:





Unnecessarily big, visible screws, hard to toggle (relatively speaking), old fashioned in a bad way.

Opposed to what we use in my country:




(custom flat toggle switches on top, blind plate in the middle, wall outlet at the bottom)



Ignoring the comical smiley look of the 3-prong plugs, they are super stylish and minimalist, have no visible screws (but are still easy to install), take up only 50x50mm space per module (for example one ceiling light switch), and are super easy to toggle just with a gentle nudge. They can be framed either super-thin or with a wider frame depending on the design or look you want.

Get with the times!

TinTower
Apr 21, 2010

You don't have to 8e a good person to 8e a hero.
Britain's plugs are the best :colbert:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEfP1OKKz_Q

BattleMaster
Aug 14, 2000

"Unnecessarily big"

*posts picture of dinner-plate sized switch*

3D Megadoodoo
Nov 25, 2010

Pilsner posted:

Something I've noticed for a long time that's just godawful: American light switches and wall plugs. Example:





Unnecessarily big, visible screws, hard to toggle (relatively speaking), old fashioned in a bad way.

Opposed to what we use in my country:




(custom flat toggle switches on top, blind plate in the middle, wall outlet at the bottom)



Ignoring the comical smiley look of the 3-prong plugs, they are super stylish and minimalist, have no visible screws (but are still easy to install), take up only 50x50mm space per module (for example one ceiling light switch), and are super easy to toggle just with a gentle nudge. They can be framed either super-thin or with a wider frame depending on the design or look you want.

Get with the times!

RoyKeen
Jul 24, 2007

Grimey Drawer

He convinced me. But is it true that as late as '92 you'd often buy appliances and electronics without plugs on them!?

Aphrodite
Jun 27, 2006

Pilsner posted:

Something I've noticed for a long time that's just godawful: American light switches and wall plugs. Example:





Unnecessarily big, visible screws, hard to toggle (relatively speaking), old fashioned in a bad way.

Opposed to what we use in my country:




(custom flat toggle switches on top, blind plate in the middle, wall outlet at the bottom)



Ignoring the comical smiley look of the 3-prong plugs, they are super stylish and minimalist, have no visible screws (but are still easy to install), take up only 50x50mm space per module (for example one ceiling light switch), and are super easy to toggle just with a gentle nudge. They can be framed either super-thin or with a wider frame depending on the design or look you want.

Get with the times!

You know those are just some of many wall plate and switch models, right?

Those are just back-up switches anyway. Here in the New World we turn our lights on and off with voice commands.

hackbunny
Jul 22, 2007

I haven't been on SA for years but the person who gave me my previous av as a joke felt guilty for doing so and decided to get me a non-shitty av

TinTower posted:

Britain's plugs are the best :colbert:

I've read that designers hate the British plug because it's so big and awkward and hard to incorporate in an elegant design

You will find, in any case, that it's Italian plugs that are the best:



Compact, inline, symmetrical (AC polarity is a lie). Almost perfect, if not for this nonsense:



The left, wider outlet, requiring a wider plug, goes to the 16 ampere circuit, the right one is 10A. Except we haven't had separate 16A and 10A circuits in decades

Our switches are superior, too:

TinTower
Apr 21, 2010

You don't have to 8e a good person to 8e a hero.

The Ape of Naples posted:

He convinced me. But is it true that as late as '92 you'd often buy appliances and electronics without plugs on them!?

1994, actually.

It was seen as such a common domestic skill it took EU legislation to change the British attitude. :v:

Guy Axlerod
Dec 29, 2008


You guys don't have these all over your house?

But for real talk, you can get decora style switches too:

hackbunny
Jul 22, 2007

I haven't been on SA for years but the person who gave me my previous av as a joke felt guilty for doing so and decided to get me a non-shitty av

BattleMaster posted:

"Unnecessarily big"

*posts picture of dinner-plate sized switch*

Fitt's law dude. If the whole thing is a target, you can't miss

hackbunny
Jul 22, 2007

I haven't been on SA for years but the person who gave me my previous av as a joke felt guilty for doing so and decided to get me a non-shitty av
The American everyday object with a surprisingly alien design, for me, was the doorknob. American doorknobs manage to feel big and heavy and flimsy at the same time. Big rattly spring-loaded things that threaten to come off in your hand at the slightest provocation

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Collateral Damage
Jun 13, 2009

Twist knobs are the best. If you want stylish twist knobs in your home they're horrendously expensive though.

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