EUROPEAN PROGRESS, HE SCOFFED (via Robert Tremblay):

Beer mat knows when it is refill time (CNN, 9/30/05)

Two German students have created a device that will stop beer lovers having to get out of their seats for a refill.

The "smart" beer mat, created by Matthias Hahnen and Robert Doerr from Saarland University in Saarbruecken, southwest Germany, can sense when a glass is nearly empty, sending an alert to a central computer behind the bar so waiters know there are thirsty customers.

The students' supervising professor, Andreas Butz, told CNN the plastic beer mat had sensor chips, which measured the weight of the glass, embedded inside.

One American student figured out over twenty years ago that you can easily wear a Matt's beer ball like a knapsack and never have to get up for a refill.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 3, 2005 4:12 PM