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Drink up that beer -- another will soon be whisked to the table thanks to a hi-tech pint glass that tells bar staff when it needs refilling.
Developed by a Japanese electronics company, the intelligent glass is fitted with a radio-frequency coil in its base and emits a signal to a receiver set in the table when it's empty, New Scientist magazine reported Thursday.
The iGlassware system works by coating each glass with a clear, conducting material, enabling it to measure exactly how much liquid has been sipped or guzzled.
When empty, the glass sends an electronic cry for more beer from the table to waiters equipped with hand-held computers on frequencies similar to those used by mobile phones.
A team from the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories working in Cambridge, Massachusetts has made the first prototypes, but may find it hard to sell the idea to Britons.
"It sounds like a fun idea, but I don't think it would work in our pubs," said a spokesman for J.D. Wetherspoon, which runs over 500 pubs in Britain.
"The tradition in Britain is to get up and go to the bar for a round of drinks, not to have a waiter bring beers to the table, no matter how quickly," he said.
(Agencies)
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如果無論你坐在酒吧的什么位置，當你的酒杯快要見底的時候，不用你招呼，酒吧的服務生就會馬上過來為你斟酒，這個創意聽起來很不錯吧？其實只要用一種高科技的啤酒杯就可以實現這一切了。
據周四的《新科學家》雜志報道，這種智能啤酒杯是由一家日本電子公司研制的。這種酒杯是將一枚可以發射無線電頻率的線圈置于杯子底部，這樣當酒杯空了的時候線圈就會向吧臺的接收儀器發出信號。
這種智能酒杯的工作原理是給酒杯涂上一層光潔的傳導材料，這樣無論顧客是小啜還是狂飲，這套系統都可以測量出酒杯中還剩下多少酒。
當酒杯空了的時候，它就會從顧客坐的桌子發出電子提示聲提醒服務生需要添酒了，而服務生手中則拿著可以接收頻率的掌中電腦，就和手機發出頻率的道理差不多。
一個在美國麻省劍橋工作的日本三菱電子實驗室研究小組已經成功制造出了第一個這樣的智能酒杯，不過要將這項發明賣給英國人卻沒有那么容易。
J.D. Wetherspoon是一家在英國已經開設了500多家分店的酒吧，該酒吧的一位發言人說："這的確是一個很有趣的主意，但是在我們的酒吧中并不實用。"
他說："英國酒吧中的傳統是顧客自己起身走到吧臺，為每個朋友端去一杯酒，而不是叫服務生把酒送到他們的桌子上，即使服務生的動作很迅速。"
(中國日報網站譯)
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Updated: 2002-04-08 01:00
