Face-Scanning Vending Machine Denies Children Access To Pudding 215
smitty777 writes "What do you do when you spend over a billion dollars on products targeted specifically for adults? Simple, just put a device on your pudding dispensing vending machines that scans faces, and denies the delicious food to the kiddies. The Minority Report-like device will apparently judge the age of the individual based on the space between their eyes and ears. If the criteria is not met, the vending machine will shut down and ask the individual to step away from the machine. There are some vending machine combos that this makes sense for, but seriously — pudding?"
You still can't have your pudding... (Score:5, Funny)
...even if you've had your meat.
(apologies to Pink Floyd)
Re:You still can't have your pudding... (Score:5, Funny)
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Because it goes well with eggs, sausage, bacon, and hash browns?
I'm geussing you are unfamiliar with the traditional English breakfast.
Re:You still can't have your pudding... (Score:4, Insightful)
Because it is yummy?
Re:You still can't have your pudding... (Score:4, Insightful)
Meat and milk don't have blood (Score:2)
Well, why do you eat muscle tissue and drink cow milk?
Because they don't have blood in them. Meat (animal muscle) has had its blood drained out of it, and milk doesn't have blood in it for the same reason that sweat doesn't.
Re:Meat and milk don't have blood (Score:4, Insightful)
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So - tell me, what do you eat that CANNOT spread diseases? And, you might be interested to know that my devout Catholic grandparents, along with their sizeable clan of relatives, ate that blood pudding at almost every holiday.
I guess my mother's ethnic background rubbed off on me, because I only remember tasting blood pudding a couple of times. Seems that she brainwashed me into turning my nose up at it by the time I reached school age.
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Oh.
Well, if it's all just a symbolic structure, then I guess the beliefs themselves don't really matter much, huh? You could swap in Earth Mama for God, and Shiva for Jesus, and the algebra would still work the same.
This is probably a discussion better continued with your Pastor, Rabbi, or High Priestess (or similar personage, depending on your faith). You could print these posts out and bring them to Sunday School. That would probably generate an interesting discussion about the differences between belie
Re:You still can't have your pudding... (Score:5, Funny)
Even better would be if the machine screamed "Stand still laddie" while it was trying to do the facial recognition :)
What they should do... (Score:3)
If the machine is going to meter pudding based on the metrics of the would-be buyer, then it should base its decision on the relative size of belly or bum to height (or some similar fat/slender axis), not on the size of the head.
Of course, it would be better if the machine did not attempt to make any such decisions, as there are probably enough cases where the decision would be wrong (small adult, etc.). Lawsuits ahoy!
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Re:You still can't have your pudding... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:You still can't have your pudding... (Score:5, Funny)
That is pretty childish behaviour.
Waah (Score:3, Funny)
Stop acting like a child. So you don't get the respect the wearers of big-boy pants do; why do you think that is? Have you considered that Person B had always been a whiney li'l twit what had it coming?
No, you just walk in on an abstraction and assume you know what's going on, but I've know Persons A, B, C and E for three years and D and G for two. I just met Persons F and H last week and won't comment on them, but lemme tell you, A has always been a 'hole and B whines about crap like this all of the tim
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Seriously : an article on banning PUDDING for children , on Christmas ? That's just evil.
But i don't worry too much : children are very creative , and if they are told they can't have something, they will find a way around it.
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well i would say that it is DOOMED from the get go
Girls: Even if you were a DR House level Grump im sure 98% of girls could get any Man still breathing to do the buy
Boys: If as a geekling you can social engineer somebody to do the buy for you then turn in your Geek Learners Permit NOW
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I had the same thought immediately when reading the title.
Sorry Cartman. (Score:5, Funny)
Now they just need vending machines that can detect little fat kids.
ED-209 Pudding Protector (Score:3)
ED-209: "Citizen! Please step away from the pudding!"
*BRRRRRT-SplatterGibSploosh*"
ED-209: "Thank you for your cooperation."
Pudding Nazi... (Score:2)
- No pudding for you! Come back one year. Next!
Smaller sized adults? (Score:5, Interesting)
So what about a person who has a growth problem and doesn't grow any bigger than the size of a 10yr old. This is a law suit waiting to happen.
Re:Smaller sized adults? (Score:5, Informative)
Even midgets have normal sized heads.
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not all of them.
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That's the most common type of midgets, but there are many other types as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primordial_dwarfism [wikipedia.org]
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They have had these machines in Japan for a few years and some adults couldn't use them. Kids quickly discovered that holding up a photo of an adult works well though.
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I might be wrong but I don't think that most countries make it against the law for vending machines to contain bugs that prevent a sale.
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In the US this would fall under handicap discrimination laws. They don't need a specific law. Everything must be accessible to people with disabilities.
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But disabled people can get it in general, sure some of them will be turned away by a bug in the device, or because it is working perfectly and they are children.
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If that bug can be seen as discrimination, then yes, there's a law against that in most countries. And since our country now has "anti-age discrimination" laws (which were actually aimed at not discriminating against older people), I could even see this being used here by some shyster. You have a product that is arguably not harmful to children being refused to be sold to children.
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And if they take pictures of themselves having sex, it's child pornography. Unless you can prove it was really an adult on the film.
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Not in Australia it considered CP if the participant "appears to be under eighteen."
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Here in Sweden, it's the same, but you can get away if you can prove the model was 18 or older. The law is basically written to shift the burden of proof over on the accused.
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*He had prior convictions for actual child porn, so the jury was eager to throw the book at him..
Serious artistic value (Score:2)
the US jailed one person for possession of hentai comics.
Are you talking about the cases listed here [wikipedia.org]? If so, the relevant statute incorporates the Miller test, meaning any cartoon CP with serious artistic value is excluded from the ban. In the case of Steven Kutzner, for example, the use of copyrighted characters created by Matt Groening might have been an aggravating factor in determining lack of serious artistic value.
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There've been lawsuits over more trivial things in the past. How long have you been living in this world of "entitlement" and still think that there won't be anyone making a stink over something as petty as pudding? Especially with the big bucks that can me milked out of anti-discrimination lawsuits.
Easy hack. (Score:5, Interesting)
The Japanese Cigarette vending machines with facial recognition were pulled, when they discovered that holding up a scale photo or magazine picture would pass the age check.
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I could image that this would be quite amusing for bored kids . . . holding up: Halloween masks, a painted basketball, pumpkins, cabbage, iPads . . . etc.
Hell, it would be even amusing for me . . .
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it's so easy to fool them, that it's stupid that anyone thought they could get away by using those machines.
same goes for face scan log-in.
at the minimum you need a 3d facial scan for the age check too, even then it would be pretty crappy(you'd just need a mask for the trick). though I'd have passed that test at maybe 14, so it would have been pretty sweet.. think of all that pudding.
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The oyaji (old guy) on a 5000 yen note would work on the cigarette machine face-recognition systems as well. They've switched to an ID card for cigarette vending machines; theory says only folks over 20 years old can get a card but that's as subject to abuse as you might expect.
One neat thing is that the cigarette vending machines switch themselves off at about 11:00 at night, same for the beer and spirits vending machines.
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Cigarette vending machines here require an ATM card, with the idea that you won't get one 'til you're at least 16 (which is the legal age for smoking over here). It works well enough, actually. Well enough that the thinkofthechildren crowd shuts up at least.
And that's what counts.
let's see now (Score:2)
1. Put in a smart vending machine that can veto a purchase
2. Accept a bribe from Pepsi to "accidentally" deny Coke purchases on occasion
3. Profit!
My evil plan (Score:5, Funny)
Put a scale in front of it. :)
Anyone over 100 Kilo will not be served
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You need a height to weight ratio to make this a better idea. A four-foot-ten woman (1.4 meters) at 180 pounds (80 kilos) definitely needs to be cut off, too.
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Hey my mother was a champion shot-putter thank you very much.
Re:My evil plan (Score:5, Funny)
so was my dad. He put away over 20 shots a day for years.
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Trust me.
Paul, old fart draftsman
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Well, you'll see fatties make pullups on the edge of the vending machine... at least they get some exercise in exchange for their pudding.
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Mission accomplished :)
Down with smart machines. (Score:2)
While good in theory, in practice they are about as open to abuse as diebold's voting machines.
I simply do not trust that a machine with hidden logic will remain untainted, either from the touch of a hacker OR a corrupt programmer.
Now counting to see how long it takes for one of these machines to be abused like DRM.
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But unlike Diebold's voting machines, the worst thing that can happen from abuse is that the wrong people get free pudding...
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Which is pretty much the same as with voting machines, except the voting machines will deny the pudding to 99% of the people.
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RTFA - It's about only selling to their demo. (Score:2, Interesting)
As the article actually states, the reason they're using this technology isn't because of some pudding shortage or the contents of the pudding. It's just that Jell-O is marketing the pudding to adults and they only want to sell it to their demographic. I'm sure this will go over well in the future, when companies decide that they only want white people to buy their products or that they don't want their vending machines selling anything to gingers.
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The difference in this context is the next ... erh ... friendly person "helping" kids to some pudding.
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I kind of agree with you, but not entirely.
That they're essentially giving away samples means that this could be perceived as a way to simply conserve the product they have in the machine. No point giving the product away to four year old kids who keep running to the machine for freebies, when you're trying to sell to their parents who have the buying power. Otherwise, you're just wasting product.
On the other hand, what's to stop an adult from hitting up the machine ten times? I would think a more effective
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Where do you get "white people" from? Jeez. Maybe the taste of the pudding is not liked by kids (like coffee or beer) and they don't want to forever alienate their potential customers at an early age. Inculcating future customers at a very early age is a well known way that companies build brand loyalty. Do you want to do that by teaching kids right off the bat to dislike Jell-O products?
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Do you want to do that by teaching kids right off the bat to dislike Jell-O products?
If I got to choose... yeah!
Not to mention free advertising on Slashdot (Score:5, Insightful)
and every other technology outlet that covers the technology machine and every outlet concerned about health or childrens rights that covers this machine. Seriously could you imagine the amount of buzz/free advertising that would be generated by targeting only Men for example, and the number of women who would buy the product just to say "screw you I'll eat it anyways"?
Jello may have just invented the advertising by exclusion business model.
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Eric cartman already done this with cartmanland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartmanland [wikipedia.org]
Re:Not to mention free advertising on Slashdot (Score:4, Insightful)
Yorkie (chocolate bars) did this in the UK. The slogan was "It's not for girls". Then they did a special pink version that was for girls. Last time I checked, women didn't need any more incentive to eat chocolate though.
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Been done many times I'm sure, but it makes me think specifically of...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcjlzSod0CE [youtube.com]
They should... (Score:2)
Santa (Score:2)
Claus, Santa
North Pole
Postal Code: H0H0H0
It's worked so far, he actually replies!
BFR. (Body Form Recognition) (Score:3)
"judge the age of the individual based on the space between their eyes and ears." ...and the space between the 2 sides of their waist.
"Step away, fatso, no pudding for you!
I clicked the link...but not what I expected (Score:3)
I was not expecting to see whiskey, but this instead. [wordpress.com]
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Why? Are you for teen pregnancies?
We've seen this before... (Score:2)
First they came for the pudding, and I didn't speak out because I was on a diet...
Distance between the eyes does not change much (Score:4, Interesting)
Because you can't untell a lie (Score:5, Funny)
On the other hand noses keep growing throughout life.
Because you can't untell a lie.
Can you blame them? (Score:3, Funny)
It's a gateway dessert.
WTF? (Score:2)
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It's a vending machine that dispenses pudding.
How much anyone want to bet (Score:2)
i have tried the temptations junk. (Score:3)
DON'T buy it, if you want real chocolate pudding buy the kiddie marketed stuff. because it's just air fluffed normal pudding so you pay more for less.
Next, "oinker blocking" (Score:3)
It would be more useful to measure the BMI of the customer and block oinkers from buying.
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Maybe it's a good thing, it might stop all those botox-filled face-lifted women.
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This is a brilliant idea (Score:5, Interesting)
I suspect this is a test of the system. Put somerhing in their that kids want that is not true contraband like cigarettes. Kids will figure out how to defeat the security by, say wearing masks or holding up newsweek magazine covers. Maker of machine then improves software. The war continues till kids can't defeat it. Now you can load it with cigarettes and alcohol.
Re:Alcoholic puddings? (Score:5, Insightful)
Ok, now that I've read TFA, there's no booze in the pudding. This is what it says:
"It's probably a good measure to prevent unmonitored children from taking more than their fair share of pudding cups"
FWIW, I know quite a few adults, probably myself included, who can be worse than children when it comes to taking more than their fair share...
Re:Alcoholic puddings? (Score:5, Informative)
More likely thinking of the adults having to deal with the sugar frenzy, not to mention the throwing up. And I wonder whether allergies and liability also plays a part.
Sugar-hyperactivity [medicinenet.com] is a MYTH. Surprising, I know; but before you react, have a think about it for a while. The same is said to apply to E-numbers. Although some people are allergic to it, hyperactivity is very unusual.
Also, I don't understand the logic of this company, they destroyed Cadbury's in the UK after closing one of their large factories here. Now they want to restrict who can buy their products. If children are out alone, surely they can buy this product elsewhere? I can't imagine any shopkeep refusing a sale because it's a chocolate cake that was "designed for adults".
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Anyone who thinks that food does not affect your body and mind is clearly delusional. But likewise is everyone who thinks in monocausalities and simple, 2-step causality chains.
Hyperactivity is real, though exaggerated like most things in the thiiink ooof theee chiiiiiiiiiiiiiildren area. And changes in diet do have effects, though I'm not sure anyone knows for sure just what the causes are and what changes are required and which ones don't really do anything.
It does increase the glucose concentration (Score:2)
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How about simple emotional excitement caused by the taste of food?
Possibly, with the child having not eaten recently, therefore being hungry possibly resulting in an abnormally depressed / low-energy state.
If parents view their child's normal behavior as "hyperactive"; then the rapidity of the return to a normal state after eating, could be perceived as hyperactivity; in other words, many parents might be deciding their child is hyperactive, when it's just a change of their child's activity level that
Abnormally low "normal" activity (Score:2)
the parent perceiving the abnormally low level of activity as "normal" for their child
You make a good point. But in that case, it's not the parent as much as society in general that perceives abnormally low activity, such as sitting at a desk for six hours without becoming destructive, as "normal".
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Sorry, but all the studies and assertions in the world don't explain away a real, easily-reproduced phenomenon. Give kids a pile of sugary snacks, and half an hour later they turn into hyperactive demons; then a few hours later, they crash and turn into miserable, whiny little brats.
When you set out to disprove something trivially-true, you may learn a variety of interesting subtleties, but you can't actually talk something into nonexistence.
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Sugar-hyperactivity is a MYTH.
Sorry, but all the studies and assertions in the world don't explain away a real, easily-reproduced phenomenon. Give kids a pile of sugary snacks, and half an hour later they turn into hyperactive demons; then a few hours later, they crash and turn into miserable, whiny little brats.
[citation needed] -- and that really should be an end to it. Ya wanna clue? Kids party hard and then invariably collapse into Need-A-Nap syndrome. Sugar's got nil to do with it.
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Maybe you need to hang out with some children to see
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The studies really don't say much... first of all, it's the child's activity level by their parents' measure that matters; that the child is not becoming "clinically hyperactive"; does not mean sugar has not had an effect on the situation.
If their kid is often at a low activity level (possibly abnormally low), it will be perceived as normal. If their kid is excited or at a higher level of activity after seeing sugary foods, then this can be labelled as sugar-high.
It's not necessarily an argument that
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In theory someone could just bring a book of faces to hold in front of the camera, but who would go to that much trouble for pudding?
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Also, given reverse psychology and all that, denying kids something because it's "for adults" makes it more likely that kids will go out and buy ASAP. So this is marketing on MULTIPLE levels. DEVIOUS.
See, that was my first thought.
corp drone 1: How can we convince adults to buy this pudding?
corp drone 2: Easy, get their 5 to 9 year-olds bother them unceasingly about it till they cave.
corp drone 1: Yeah, but that would require a marketing campaign aimed at the kids. We want the parents to buy it for them selves in addition to the pudding cups they buy the kids.
corp drone 2: Just sell it to the kids the way we sell cigarettes and malt liquor to teens, tell them they can't have any because they're not old