Retrofitting old junk with new guts always grabs my attention. That’s why, when MIT computer science grad Chris Varenhorst re-jigged a dirt cheap soda machine to his specifications, I had to chuckle.
So what did he do? Chris not only managed to hook the machine up to the internet, but he also made the soda machine believe it had credits whenever a ‘secret’ circuit was connected. On top of that, he created an iPhone app that sends messages to his server. The long and short of it? He was/is for all intents and purposes the ‘god’ of his soda machine, and can dispense a cold coca-cola for you at anytime, anywhere.
Check out the video above for all the details.
Note: Now that Chris has graduated and moved on, his former roommates decided to sell the machine on eBay. It went for only $76, with part of the monies raised going to charity.