Alcohol

Gel sensors to detect bomb chemicals and illegal drugs in seconds

By Jeff Salton

03:26 October 12, 2009 PDT

Sensors that quickly detect chemicals used to make bombs are being developed by scientists at Queen’s University, Belfast. The devices will use special gel pads to "swipe" a person or crime scene to gather a sample which is then analyzed by a scanning instrument that can detect the presence of chemicals within seconds, much quicker than current analysis methods. This will allow better, faster decisions to be made in response to terrorist threats. The team is also working on devices that detect illegal drugs and will hopefully be deployed by police as roadside drug "breathalyzers". Read More

Digital drink tampering detector

By Paul Ridden

18:17 August 23, 2009 PDT

One of the dangers of drinking in unfamiliar territory can be the quality of liquor on offer. Rotgut, the slang term for an inferior alcoholic concoction, can be dangerous to your health, not just your wallet. How big an issue being served rotgut actually is seems to depend as much on where in the world you find yourself as which nightclub or party you're at. Rotgutonix is a new take-anywhere prototype device that analyzes your chosen beverage and lets you know if it's genuine or a nasty pretender. Read More

Increased risk of injury even after one glass of alcohol

By Mike Hanlon

16:19 March 23, 2009 PDT

The cost to society of physical injury related to alcohol consumption is immense – the link between severe alcohol intoxication, road accidents and violence is well established. Now new research from the Swedish Karolinska Institutet medical university indicates that most alcohol-related damage occurs after moderate consumption. While people who have drunk considerable quantities of alcohol suffer higher injury risk than people who have drunk only a little, the research shows the risk of suffering injury increases significantly after small amounts of alcohol as little as one glass. Read More

Whisky - Demon drink becomes sound financial investment

By Matt Kennedy

20:19 March 22, 2009 PDT

If you could resist drinking it, you may just find that hanging on to a few bottles of fine single malt could not only make a sound investment but one which is more interesting than boring old stocks and far more reliable than wine. At Bonhams in Edinburgh, their second ever dedicated whisky auction has not only shown that there's a strong market for rare whisky, (with 95% of all lots sold) but that the big boys of the auction world are taking it seriously. Read More

Sowine preserves wine for up to ten days

By Jude Garvey

01:57 July 14, 2008 PDT

Sowine is a home wine bar that enables you to preserve your opened bottle of wine at the perfect temperature for up to ten days. It also allows you to bring your bottles of wine to the correct temperature before serving. The air-tight refrigerated storage unit has two separate compartments that are temperature-controlled to suit the type of wine you are storing. You can store a bottle of red wine and a bottle of white wine at the same time as the units are completely separate. As the storage unit is air-tight, the bottles are also protected from oxidation, therefore helping to prolong the life of your wine. Read More

Open up and say ahhh: new technique uses laser light to analyze breath for diseases

By Jude Garvey

23:26 February 18, 2008 PST

February 19, 2008 We're familiar with the use of breath testing to determine blood alcohol content, but according to new research the air we exhale could reveal much more about what's happening in our bodies, and in the future, breath testing could become a regular part of visiting the doctor. The research by a team of US scientists has shown that markers for diseases such as asthma or cancer can be determined by analyzing trace molecules in the breath using laser light. Experiments using a pulsed laser aimed into a breath-filled cavity proved that gases such as ammonia, carbon monoxide, and methane could be detected revealing signposts to particular diseases being present in the patient - ammonia, for example, may indicate renal failure. Read More

Volvo introduces voluntary Alcolocks from 2008

By Loz Blain

23:07 September 4, 2007 PDT

September 5, 2007 One in three traffic fatalities in Europe is alcohol related and around 3,000 people in the UK are killed or seriously injured each year in drink drive collisions. In an effort to help drivers make responsible choices, Volvo is the first manufacturer to launch a fully integrated, voluntary in-car breathalyzer/alcolock system called Alcoguard as an option to its 2008 range, which prevents the car from starting if the driver is over the blood alcohol limit. Read More

The mophie Bevy – the first Illuminator-built product

By Mike Hanlon

May 8, 2007 Mophie today announced the US$15 Bevy, the first product to be released from the highly successful Illuminator project. The mophie Bevy is a multifunctional case for Apple's iPod Shuffle that features a bottle opener and key chain and was designed by a 17-year-old from California. The Illuminator project at MacWorld Expo transformed mophie’s booth into a live community collaboration and creation lab where, over a four-day period, 30,000+ MacWorld attendees were invited to doodle a product concept that enhanced any of the newest Apple products. Concepts were voted on by MacWorld attendees at the show and on mophie.com. Finally, mophie designers and engineers took the winning concepts and developed prototypes in the booth. Read More

Discovery opens door for drugs for alcohol addiction

By Mike Hanlon

December 14, 2006 The connection between nicotine and alcohol has been known for some time, though the fact that alcoholism is ten times stronger among smokers than among non-smokers is not as widely known ... and it’s not just because many people smoke at parties. When sober alcoholics are tempted to fall off the wagon, the same receptor in their brain is stimulated as is activated by nicotine. This has been demonstrated in a doctoral dissertation at the Sahgrenska Academy at Göteborg University in Sweden. The discovery may lead to new treatment for alcohol abuse. Read More

Draught Beer Dispenser for the home

By Mike Hanlon

December 7, 2006 With beer being the most popular alcoholic drink on earth, it’s quite surprising that it has taken 10,000 years for someone to invent an appliance that will dispense draught beer and keep it fresh indefinitely. The first to do that was Philips with its PerfectDraft, but the company’s development was done in conjunction with Brewing giant Interbrew, so only Interbrew beers were available in the kegs it used. Now a new beer dispenser that is free of exclusive beer company affiliations is ready for market and uses 4, 5 or 6 liter kegs for around 300 beer brands and can also serve chilled wines and soft drinks. Ladies and gentlemen, the Wunderbar! Read More

The combination wine cabinet and refrigerator

By Mike Hanlon

October 20, 2006 Liebherr is well known for its high quality wine cabinets and also makes a range of superb refrigerators so it was only a matter of time before someone got the bright idea for combining them. If you’re a regular wine drinker, it’s heaven sent as the wine cabinet holds 32 bottles and has two zones for storing and/or serving wine at the exact temperature desired, ranging from +41°F (+5°C) to +64°F (+18°C). In all, the SBS 24I5 unit has five different climate zones and ensures everything is kept as it should be. As such, we figure it qualifies as a new and innovative appliance that allows you to store all food and drink under perfect conditions. Read More

The Asahi Refrigerator Robot holds and pours six cans

By Mike Hanlon

September 12, 2006 It might seem a trivial and highly specialised application for a robot, but the task of getting another beer that seems to be one that is ideally suited to a robotic servant and that’s exactly what the Asahi Refrigerator Robot does. The little fellow holds and chills six 350 ml cans and at the touch of a button will dispense a can, rip the top off and pour a perfect beer every time. Japan’s Asahi Breweries held a special promotion earlier this year and gave away 5,000 robots via a lottery for participants who had collected 36 seals from special Asahi beer cans. There’s no sign of the robot hitting the market just yet, but there is a video which shows the little tyke doing its stuff. We suspect a 12 can version will be required for foreign markets. Via Gizmodo Read More

The wine-tasting robot

By Mike Hanlon

September 8, 2006 The evolution of information technology that imitates the five human senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste is important in the advancement of a ubiquitous society. Undoubtedly one of the leaders in this area is NEC System Technologies which continues to push robotic development as can be seen from these stories (here, here and here) on its technologies, all of which seem to be able to be shoehorned into the tiny PaPeRo form factor. More recently, the research has moved from areas such as personality, social skills, companionship and English-Japanese language translation to technologies that support the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases through dietary therapy. Last year we saw Papero transformed into a “health food adviser robot” which analysed food using infrared spectrum analysis and did so WITHOUT opening the packet. Not only did it report on the fat and sugar content, the robot actually identifies several types of cheese (Edam, Gouda, Camembert, etc.), meat products (ham, bacon), and bread (pain de mie, baguette, croissant,). This year they set out to build a robot that could differentiate between different types of wine, a far more exacting task using the same technology. The new wine-tasting robot can now discriminate between wine types but the sensor is much larger, needs to touch the surface of the wine and must be cleaned for each tasting. Read More

The WinePod micro winery kitchen appliance

By Mike Hanlon

September 5, 2006 Man has been making wine for more than 10,000 years but never has it been this easy. The WinePod is a new domestic device for artisan winemaking – a US$2000 micro winery just being readied for launch and seeking international distributors and we see this as a winner because it is just sooooo sophisticated. The insulated, self-cleaning, fully computerised, three foot tall, metallic urn-shaped appliance includes everything required to make 75 litres of the wine of your choice and is above all, easy to use. It wirelessly connects to your PC/Mac, which monitors Brix, pH and temperature to keep things happening exactly as they should and the WineCoach software mentors you through the wine-making process to obtain the best results for the particular variety of grapes you choose. Wine Coach enables you to collaborate with professional winemakers who are dedicated to the different wine types so you can learn the fine art of winemaking from your own personal consulting enologist. The software also enables you to compare notes and interact with fellow wine enthusiasts using the system and it can all be self-contained in an apartment or in a cupboard with the obvious rewards that the final product will bring. The waiting list already runs to April 2007 but a few orders might prompt an increase in production and we’re very bullish about the prospects for this baby. Read More

The Alcowatch wristwatch alcohol tester

By Mike Hanlon

August 9, 2006 Alcohol and road-use don’t mix, and tens of thousands of human beings a year are maimed or killed due to alcohol-impaired drivers. So if you’re regularly going to drink and drive, which many of us do, then the very least you can do as a responsible human being is to ensure your blood alcohol content is below the legal limit. We’ve already written up the fascinating stand-alone Sobercheck breathalyser and we recently wrote about the LG Breathalyzer mobile phone. Well now there’s a wristwatch with a built-in breathalyser set to hit the market later this month. So die-hard booze hounds now can have their very own breathalyser on the end of their arm to ensure the only person they kill is themselves. Read More

SOBERCHECK: an affordable personal breathalyser

By Mike Hanlon

May 23, 2006 Everyone has a different relationship with alcohol and that was never more obvious than during a year of trials with the Draeger SoberCheck - a compact, affordable handheld digital alcohol detector. By the time one reaches adulthood, almost everybody has had a number of experiences with alcohol and its ability to distort reality to a greater or lesser extent. The results of the trial changed everyone involved. The SoberCheck provided dozens of our associates with a reality check on just what their blood alcohol levels were in comparison to what they thought they were - almost invariably, everyone erred several points lower than they really were and we found that this errant judgement would often have been the difference between driving legally and illegally. Remarkably, the SoberCheck emerged as remarkable educational tool, not just in what you need to do to keep your obligation to society and ensure you are driving under the alcohol limit, but about alcohol and its effects in general. Education is about life preparedness – it is formally teaching us the things we need to know to contribute effectively and manage our lives effectively. The SoberCheck could be the enabling tool in the educational process. Read More

First commercial use of new glass wine closure

By Mike Hanlon

May 11, 2006 Wine has been amongst man’s greatest pleasures for at least 10,000 years, having played a prominent role in the Phoenicean, Greek, Egyptian and Roman civilisations. Initially, the bitterness of wine spoilage was masked by flavouring the wines, and many different methods have been used to prevent spoilage, such as topping wine containers with olive oil, leather tied with vine, clay stoppers, oily rag closures and most successfully, cork. But cork is inconsistent and still has an unacceptable spoilage factor and ever since French microbiologist Louis Pasteur discovered wine spoilage was caused by microorganisms, the search has been on for the ideal closure system. We recently wrote about the Zork wine closure system, and now there’s another. Vino-Seal is a new glass closure developed by Alcoa as an alternative to traditional corks and synthetic stoppers for wine. With a design similar to a decorative decanter stopper, Vino-Seal uses an inert o-ring to provide a sterile seal, preventing contamination or oxidation. Whitehall Lane Winery of Napa Valley will be the first to use the new glass closure commercially. Read More

The Beerbelly – stealth beverage container

By Mike Hanlon

April 28, 2006 The Beerbelly enables you to take up to 80oz. (2.4 litres) of your favorite beverage wherever you wish ... disguised as a beer belly. Primarily designed to avoid the high price of drinks at sporting events, movies etcetera, and to enable the consumption of alcohol where it’s not allowed, the device is still legally applicable to a wide range of leisure pursuits. The Beerbelly uses an insulated neoprene “sling” and a polyurethane “bladder” worn under your clothing for concealment, masquerades perfectly as a genuine beerbelly, and stays cold for hours! The Beerbelly is not exactly a socially or legally responsible and things could get ugly if you are apprehended, but the Beerbelly web site has thought of all this, offering helpful advice should you be challenged with the device in situ. In such situations the web site has a range of helpful and in some cases quite humourous strategies. Read More

Monogram Walk-In Wine Vault

By Mike Hanlon

January 14, 2006 If you’re considering the fit-out for your next luxury home and you’re one of those wine enthusiasts who anxiously awaits each November for the Beaujolais Nouveau to arrive, then feast your eyes on General Electric’s latest - a complete, turnkey walk-in wine vault. The US$35,000 GE Monogram Walk-In Wine Vault combines advanced cooling technology, an electronic inventory-management system, insulation, racking, and lighting - all in one spacious, self-contained unit that can be installed in as little as a day. The Monogram Wine Vault offers the ideal location for storing or displaying wines. Read More

New “trybrid” car can run on three different energy sources - gas, electric and alcohol

By Mike Hanlon

January 14, 2005 UPDATED IMAGE LIBRARY Pioneering automotive company ZAP may well be embroiled in a legal battle with Daimler Chrysler’s smart, but it has not slowed the expansion of its fleet of intriguing and economical cars. Amongst the cars which had their first public showing at the recent San Francisco International Auto Show were the WORLDCAR, Obvio! and XEBRA. The three-seater (side-by-side) Brazilian-made Obvio 012 and Obvio 828(main image) look to be the pick of the litter, powered by a Tritec 1.6 litre four cylinder motor (as used in the MINI) using flexible fuel technology that enables the engines to run on gasoline and alcohol or any combination plus an additional electric drive – effectively making it the world’s first “trybrid” automobile that can switch between three energy sources. Both cars bristle with the latest thinking, such as a survival cell, (a la smart), McPherson struts all round, four big disk brakes, an immobile carputer and a CVT (Constantly variable transmission). The engines are available in 115 bhp standard output, with tuned versions available all the way up to a brutal 250 bhp. Mainly constructed of composite materials to enable the lightest possible result (750 kg – the MINI weighs 1150 kg), the 012 looks to have all the ingredients for a top seller, looking great, offering startling performance and ecological cred at a time when we are seeing the "greening" of the American market. Read More

New beer tap pours beer four times faster and increases keg yield by 30%

By Mike Hanlon

July 19, 2005 Beer is big business - the world consumes 150 billion litres of beer annually and in America alone, beer is a US$78.1 billion dollar industry accounting for 54% of all alcoholic beverage sales in dollars. Which is why the TurboTap is such an important invention - the oddly-shaped elongated beer tap pours beer four times faster than existing beer taps at the same time as increasing keg yield by up to 30% and reducing training time to roughly 60 seconds. By increasing the number of customers that can be served in a given time by bar staff, the TurboTap can significantly increase throughput at peak times, and reduce staff numbers across the board. For the customer, it will mean shorter queues and a perfect beer every time. It’s a classic case of recognising the important problem and the founder of TurboTap, 31-year-old Matthew Younkle did just that in seeking out the technology to pour a faster, more consistent beer. Read More

AWOL releases single user machine

By Mike Hanlon

February 26, 2005 Alcohol WithOut Liquid (AWOL) has launched a small portable, home version of the controversial commercial AWOL machines launched last year into pubs, clubs and bars. The personal AWOL machine will be named AWOL 1 and will be priced at US$299, a significant reduction from the commercial two and four person AWOL machines, priced at US$2595 and US$2895 respectively. The price reduction has been enabled by substituting the oxygen generator used in AWOL 2 and 4 for an air compressor used in AWOL 1. Both methods deliver alcohol into the bloodstream in the same way - a method that has caused controversy on both sides of the Atlantic, though some US states seem intent on taking silliness to new extremes. Read More

New boardgame dispels wine tasting myths

By Gizmag Team

November 14, 2004 Move over, Monopoly - Winerd, The Wine Tasting Game That Crushes Grape Fears is a new approach to improving wine knowledge for connoisseurs and amateurs alike. Created by Tamara Leigh Murphy, a private wine instructor and former chef, and Richard Murphy of Winerd Entertainment, the board game brings the fun of wine tasting to the masses and dispels the notion that wine has to be intimidating. Read More

Caffeinated Beer to launch in November

By Mike Hanlon

It had to happen. The success of the heavily caffeinated "energy" drinks such as Red Bull in the tten and twenty-something markets has seen US brewing giant Anheuser-Busch (best known for Budweiser beer) announce a new fruity beer infused with caffeine, guarana and ginseng. Also infused with select hops and aromas of blackberry, raspberry and cherry, the new beer, which will be known as B(E) will offer a lightly sweet and tart taste. B(E) will be priced slightly higher than Budweiser and marketed through local print advertising, point-of-sale materials, bar and club promotions and online programs. B(E) will contain 6.6 percent alcohol by volume. Read More

Draught Beer Dispenser for the home

By Mike Hanlon

Interbrew and Royal Philips Electronics have announced the development of PerfectDraft, a new system which combines a high-quality appliance and consumer-preferred beer brands in light metal kegs, delivering the taste of draught beer in the comfort of one's own home. PerfectDraft is a new type of appliance with a tap handle, internal cooling system, pump, and 6-liter light metal keg. PerfectDraft keeps beer at the optimal conditions and the beer stays fresh for 4 weeks. Read More