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Connected Objects Food and Beverage

B4RM4N connected cocktail market uses its smarts to make others stupid

Although a bartender’s tricks and talents can seem pretty easy to us inebriated folk, the truth is that it takes quite a long time to perfect the skills necessary to mix drinks that won’t make us grimace while we sip them. Worse yet, when most of us try our hand at making a drink or two for family or friends, the end result is a drink that doesn’t look great and the realization that we really don’t know what we’re doing at all.

To become presentable to the public again, you could buy a bunch of books or plunk down the cash for a mixology course, or you could grab a B4RM4N and let it do all the work. The device is a modern mixologist in a three-piece shaker, comprised of a stainless steel that encloses a Bluetooth LE antenna, an accelerometer, and LED lights all in a one, high-tech package. Pair it with your smartphone, select a recipe with the B4rm4m companion app, the number of servings, and it will lead you step by step in the process of creating the perfect pour. It even tells you how long to pour ingredients and shake them all together. With over 110 recipes and counting, there will never be a lack of ideas. You can even have the app suggest recipes to you based on what’s currently in your fridge, and if that egg vodka mint actually ends up tasting good, you can share it with the B4rm4m community so that anyone can make it. The B4rm4m is currently going for an early bird price of $99, jumping up to $199 upon release. Backers can expect theirs in July 2015 if the campaign achieves it funding goal of $100,000.

The similarly titled Barman is a campaign in the past that is very similar to the B4RM4N. Both have similar features, but the B4RM4N goes about things in a more compact way, while the Barman uses an external scale to help you create your drink. All in all, the B4RM4N is a svelte device that will look good in many scenarios and its social features make it not only useful but very fun, too.

Categories
Food and Beverage

Connected Ozz mixer gets lit up before you do

Unless you’re a bartender or, dare we say it, mixologist, making cocktails can be a bit of a mystery. There are so many recipes to try and getting the exact measurements for several ingredients can be tricky. Ozz helps you embody your inner Moe. This product features a lit up drink stand that monitors the ingredients going into your drink with an Android and iOS compatible app. This app features recipes, reviews, your own custom drink list and suggestions for how to fix a drink. It tells you to add a little bit more of this or that so that you have the perfect cocktail. One will cost backers €99 with estimated delivery for April 2015 from the Netherlands. Ozz is hoping to raise €150,000 on Kickstarter.

Ozz is a rather fancy and somewhat pricey way to make drinks. Still, it presents endless possibilities for novice drink-makers and even for bartenders looking to up their game. This product offers fun training with the even more fun reward of a perfect cocktail at the end. Some may ponder the need for such a first-world niche product, however others will certainly be on board with adult drinks made better by smart technology.