Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

Home | Dictionary | Timeline | New

Programmable Soda - Ipifini's Choice-Enabled Packaging

Ipifini, Inc. has created Choice-Enabled Packaging technology, to be presented at the PIRA conference in Stockholm, Sweden at the end of this month.

Update 14-Apr-2006: I was finally able to locate a copy of Pixel Juice, the short story collection with the reference to Spook, the soft drink from science fiction author Jeff Noon's imagination - so here's the quote:

Remember Spook?

Sure you do ... ninety-nine percent sugar; one of those things that tastes disgusting first off, but you can't help getting hooked if you persist with it. It was called Spook, I guess, because it was like clear liquid to start with, no flavour, with this neat gimmick in the cap. You could twist the cap six different ways to get six different flavours.
(Read more about Spook)

(Ipifini's Choice-Enabled Packaging - programmable soda)

IPIFINI's Programmable Liquid Containers use buttons on the container's surface that release additives (flavors, colorants, fragrances...etc) into the liquid. These additive buttons let the consumer choose different versions right at the point of consumption. A programmable cola bottle with buttons for lemon, lime, vanilla, and cherry flavors as well as a caffeine button allows for 32 possible choices of soda.

The same concept can be used with other kinds of liquids dispensed in containers. A programmable paint container with 20 pigment additive buttons allows the consumer to choose from one million paint colors.

"Providing choice at the point of consumption creates tremendous advantages for the consumers as well as the manufacturer," noted Glenn Wachler, advisor to IPIFINI and co-inventor of IPIFINI's Choice-Enabled Packaging.

Dr. Tod Woolf, founder and President of IPIFINI, notes that "virtually everyone who has seen our Programmable Liquid Container technology is fascinated and excited by its usefulness and consumer appeal."
(From the programmable soda news release.)

Science fiction writer Jeff Noon wrote about programmable sodas in his 1997 story Solace, reprinted in the collection titled Pixel Juice. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a suitable quotation from the book (anyone? [Now supplied above]). However, here is a description by the author:

I love the idea of the soft drink that can be turned into any kind of flavour you want. Why doesn't somebody make this happen?

...I'd chosen the six flavours of the drink, realised that the kid addicted to the stuff would call all six flavours mixed together a special name. I thought of taking the six initial letters of the fruits, making a new word out of them. All I could come up with was something like Solcal, the second L coming from Lime, I think. Of course, when I put the story through the Spellchecker, it comes up on this strange word, and asks me if I want to replace it with Solace. So of course I said yes! All I had to do now was find a fruit that began with the letter E, came up with elderberry, and that was it, the story made infinitely better through the use of technology!
(From Vurt Feather)

For the record, the first combination drink ever made (fictionally, anyway) consisted of strawberry, orange, lemon, apple, cola and elderberry - SOLACE.

So, you probably think that scientists and food technologists are finished catching up with the visions of science fiction writers? Wrong! Food pioneers should take a look at the John W. Campbell's synthetic food dispenser and Frederik Pohl's food factory and get cracking.

To their credit, hard-working food technologists have already caught up with Robert Heinlein's microwavable food; scientists are just about ready to mass-produce cultured meat straight from the vat for real.

Update 13-Feb-2007: Here's a more detailed picture of the bottle; also, watch the Ipifini programmable soda in action.

(Ipifini programmable soda comments and reviews)

(End update.) Thanks to the Armchair Anarchist and another anonymous reader for the tip on the story and the sf tie-in.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 3/26/2006)

| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |

Would you like to contribute a story tip? It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add it here.

Comment/Join discussion ( 12 )

Related News Stories - (" Food ")

Garçon! A Menu For Artemis II, S'il Vous Plaît
'Michel Ardan, as a Frenchman, was declared chief cook, an important function, which raised no rival.' - Jules Verne, 1867.

A Beautiful Visualization Of Compact Food
'The German chemists have discovered how to supply the needed elements in compact, undiluted form...' - Edward Page Mitchell (1879).

Thermostabilized Wet Meat Product (NASA Prototype)
There are no orbiting Michelin stars. Yet.

Edible Meat-Like Fungus Like Barbara Hambly's Slunch?
'It was almost unheard of for slunch to spread that fast...' - Barbara Hambly, 1985.

	Web TechNovelgy.com

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Current News

NEO Brain Computer Interface (BCI)
'The remains of the lace took on the rough shape of a brain...'

Did Frank Herbert Predict E-Ink Displays?
'A broken circle with arrows pointing to a right-hand flow appeared in the chalf.'

Monolith One Giant Industrial Metal 3D-printer
'The object seemed melted together like wax — nothing was distinguishable.'

'Mooncrete' Lunar Regolith Concrete (LRC)
'And here they began to build...'

China's 'Magpie Drone' Ornithopter
'Midges have many capabilities. To the untrained eye, they look like sparrows.'

MAI-Voice-2 Microsoft Text-To-Speech
'I made disks of my own voice to the number of five hundred very carefully chosen words.'

Tumblin' Tumbleweed Rovers To Eplore Mars
'His sensors out and working, and the whirring of the tape that sucked up sight and sound and shape and smell and form...'

Tentacled Robot Captures Space Debris
Preventing annoying space debris build-up.

Prufrock-MB2 Ready In Nashville
'It sounds to me as though you had invented a kind of metal earthworm.'

DIY Robotic Content Farming
'The chief wheeled to the master machine and pressed a button.'

Reflect Orbital Sunlight On Demand
'I don't have to tell you about the seven two-mile-diameter orbital mirrors that circulate around the satellite, making it habitable.'

The Amazing Lightfoot Electric Scooter With Solar Assist
'The steel tortoise gave MacKinnon a feeling of Crusoe- like independence.'

Fully Electric, Fully Automated Vegetable‑growing Agribots
'...then back to their work, though little enough it was on these automatic cultivators.'

Vero Robotic Dog With Vacuum Cleaner Feet
'Out of warrens in the wall, tiny robot mice darted.'

AI Operates An Excavator
'So far as I could see, the thing was without a directing Martian at all.'

US Army IBEX Exoskeleton Walks Troops Out Of Danger
'The suit stands up and starts walking, gripping me round the calves and waist, taking the bulk of my weight off my throbbing feet.'

More SF in the News Stories

More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories