Vending Machine

Last weekend, at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto, toy car makers Hot Wheels, together with Chevrolet Canada and marketing firm TrojanOne, displayed Canada’s first Twitter-activated promotional vending machine – aptly called "The Hot Wheels Camaro-matic Trending Machine." By tweeting the correct hash-tag, it dispensed free (if small) Camaro’s to attendees.  Read More

This year has already seen a surprising number of innovations in vending machines, from the EatWave that cooks select items to the Let's Pizza which actually makes fresh pizza from scratch. Now one company has produced a vending machine designed for more discerning (and wealthy) palates. Gourmet food supplier, Beverly Hills Caviar, recently installed vending machines in select Los Angeles malls that serve up fresh caviar, escargot, and other exotic goods, with prices for products running as high as US$500.  Read More

While the explosion in the popularity of consumer 3D printers has been enabled by cheaper and cheaper devices, they’re still beyond the reach of the average university student. But students at Virginia Tech need not worry about such monetary concerns when looking to turn their ideas into a physical reality thanks to the DreamVendor 3D printer vending machine located in Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering. (And no, the machine doesn't vend 3D printers.)  Read More

While few people would describe themselves as bibliophiles, most people like curling up with a good book. While tablets and dedicated eReaders, such as the Kindle and Nook have proven tremendously popular with readers, there is still a percentage that prefer the look and feel of a printed book and would rather spend some time hunting around a bricks and mortar store than browsing an online shopfront. It is these readers at which the Biblio-Mat – a vending machine for dispensing used books – is targeted.  Read More

Aside from items with a lengthy shelf life, such as candy bars and potato chips, purchasing any more substantial food from a vending machine is generally a recipe for disappointment. While devices like the pizza vending machine take a specialized approach in an attempt to improve the quality of food on offer, the shotgun approach of traditional vending machines means almost every "fresh" item ends up being anything but. But that could change at least a little bit with the EatWave, a new vending machine that stores refrigerated food and drinks and can microwave specific items before they're delivered.  Read More

As a child, there was something magically rewarding about dropping some small change into the slot of a gumball machine, turning the lever and being rewarded with some hard candy. The Razorfish Emerging Experiences team has now updated the mini-vending machine for the digital age with a prototype Digital Gum Machine that delivers a digital treat to a smartphone in exchange for a 50 cent coin.  Read More

In South Africa, getting a little liquid refreshment can be as simple as sending a tweet, thanks to what appears to be the world's first Twitter-activated vending machine. The machine is named BEV, and last week she started rewarding people at Cape Town's Wembley Square who tweet the right hash tag with a sample of BOS Iced Tea.  Read More

Remember how people reacted when McDonalds announced that it was going to start selling pizzas? Well, if buying pies from a chain best known for cheap hamburgers might have been difficult for some folks to get their heads around, they will likely find this even stranger – buying them from a vending machine. Nonetheless, that’s exactly what Dutch company A1 Concepts is hoping Americans will do, when its Let’s Pizza machines arrive in the U.S.  Read More

The Autospense vending machine by a Californian company Dispense Labs LLC is designed to allow easy access to medical marijuana for those who need it, while keeping it safely out of reach of those who merely want it. This machine is far more sophisticated than your average snack dispenser though - locks, cameras, sensors and proprietary software all add up to a high-security turnkey solution for dispensing, tracking and managing medical marijuana.  Read More