Gadgets Gizmos Gossip

An iPhone-controlled fridge which shoots cans of beer across a room from a cannon has been hailed as the ‘greatest ever bloke’s toy’.

Ryan Rusnak, 25, created the ‘Beer Bot’ when he decided to make his own beer vending machine – which means he doesn’t have to leave his seat again when he fancies a cold beverage.

The first version was a basic vending machine that dropped chilled beers from the fridge into a tray below. But Ryan, form Tyson’s Corner, Virginia, US wasn’t satisfied with a mere beer vendor.

After talking with co-creator Graham Phero, a compressed air cannon was added to the machine.

Ryan said: “My buddy Graham said, ‘how can we throw the beers to us?’

“What about an arm or a cannon?”

The friends settled on air-pressured cannon, but it wasn’t all plain sailing.

Ryan said: “It was kind of famous last words: ‘how much pressure should we use?’

“The first attempt smashed into the roof and blew it into a thousand pieces.”

Using a netbook computer the pair can log into the fridge via a dedicated web server, using an app developed by Ryan’s friend Josh Lilly.

They installed a webcam in the front of the Perspex panelled fridge to aim the cannon and send a cold can of beer hurtling across the room towards them.

The fridge also has its own Twitter profile, tweeting whenever a beer is fired and sending a notification email to its creators.

Ryan said: All the tinkering and everything took about three months to get it absolutely right.”

He added that making a ‘Beer Bot’ Mark II would be a quicker and cheaper affair.

He said: “The trial and error and creating the device cost £250. But knowing what I do now I could probably build one in a weekend for about £190.”

An iobridge micro-controller device allows the fridge to link to Ryan’s iPhone via the web.

Government tech consultant Ryan, A Virginia Tech University graduate, has received plenty of attention since posting videos of the Beer Bot online, so much that the CEO of the micro-controller company took him out to lunch.

He said:”It’s been crazy. I’ve had tons of people calling me asking to use the videos on new programmes and even to conjure an idea for other appliances like an old Bosch slimline dishwasher or a washing machines, it’s just bizarre.”

Ryan said he plans to celebrate the popularity of the fridge by throwing a party and allowing friends to log into the appliance.

Mercedes Benz has introduced a new gadget for their models, a piece of tech that will integrate an iPhone into a cradle placed between the driver and passenger, this step by Mercedes brings the iPhone a little bit closer to it’s target of world domination.

When the iPhone is in the cradle, the phone can be controlled by the steering wheel, also allow all phone and audio features to be controlled too.

This new added option from Mercedes is being rolled out in August, the pricing of this added extra has not yet been finalized, but around Europe the cradle is going for $389.

I will certainly consider this for when I am looking at car leasing sites for my next new car

The new Samsung Soul U900 has managed to outsell the the Apple iPhone, in the first month of sales, Samsung have managed to rack up 1 million sales, and still to release in many parts of Asia.

Unlike the Apple iPhone which has built up 1.7 million sales in the first 3 month, so just by looking you can see that Samsung’s sales has crushed the iPhone.

Image courtsy of phonesreview.co.uk