Hasta La Gadget!

In the future, when the inevitable and literal fast food wars break out, we’ll all be too fat and unhealthy to fight for our chain of choice – which is why these fast food chains should start developing their own war machines. Here’s a free idea for McDonald’s, courtesy of Sean and Steph Mayo. Behold! The Big MaK!

The husband and wife LEGO enthusiasts made the Big MaK for Bricklink’s Creations for Charity (and it seems it’s already been bought). I hope the Mayos make more food-themed mechs. I imagine the Taco Bell mech will be able to combine with the Doritos mech to form a smaller but tougher robot, the KFC robot will be a robot sandwiched in between two other robots and the Pizza Hut robot will be stuffed with smaller robots.

[via Obvious Winner]

In an age of grab and go eating, it seems somewhat odd that a fast food restaurant would feature an attraction that causes its patrons to drop anchor and stay. However, the house with well over one billion served is doing just that. A Virginia Beach McDonald’s has leveraged the popularity of another Big Mac maker, by stocking its location with free to use iPads. Yes, the tablets are mounted on tables, but after polishing off a hearty array of Mcfixings, you’re likely to be bolted to your seat as well. Franchise owner Hugh Fard got the idea while attending the annual worldwide McDonald’s convention in Florida. While it’s great to see major eateries incorporating the use of new technology, we can only wonder just how greasy shiny those fancy Retina displays will be after spending a day under the golden arches.

Filed under: Tablets

Virginia Beach McDonald’s adds free iPad use to its menu, McRib still seasonal originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 22:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We all know adverts are a necessary evil, which is why different companies are trying to make them more personalized, more engaging or just plain get rid of them. In a recently granted patent, Sony outlines its ideas for next-gen advertising on network-connected devices — essentially to make it more interactive. Many of the instructional diagrams involve PS3 accessories in the home setting, but the focus isn’t just on adverts as mini-games, which itself is nothing new. Other suggestions for keeping your interest include in-ad purchasing, casting votes or selecting the genre of commercials. To speed up, or get ads off your screen, Sony would have you performing small tasks or — more sinisterly — shouting brand names when prompted. Whether such immersive advertising will ever be employed is anyone’s guess, but we’re sure you’re smart enough to know they’re just tricks. So who’s up for a McDonald’s then?

Filed under: Internet

Sony patent wants to make advertising more interactive originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Aug 2012 13:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just as it was announced last week that Square will become the mobile payment platform for Starbucks going forward, PayPal now has revealed it too has designs no the fastfood/payment game—its conquest: McDonalds. More »

Yesterday we reported that Dr. Steve Mann, the EyeTap’s creator, was allegedly assaulted in a McDonald’s in Paris after explaining that his eye glasses could not be removed because it was permanently attached to his head. Well, the news was brought to light and caused quite a stir in the media. And today, McDonald’s replied to our email with a statement about the situation (see it below). According to the results of its investigations, the restaurant’s staff did nothing wrong and only interacted with Dr. Mann politely and there was no physical altercation.

Hi Elaine – We share the concern regarding Dr. Mann’s account of his July 1 visit to a McDonald’s in Paris.

McDonald’s France was made aware of Dr. Mann’s complaints on July 16, and immediately launched a thorough investigation. The McDonald’s France team has contacted Dr. Mann and is awaiting further information from him.  In addition, several staff members involved have been interviewed individually,  and all independently and consistently expressed that their interaction with Dr. Mann was polite and did not involve a physical altercation.  Our crew members and restaurant security staff have informed us that they did not damage any of Mr. Mann’s personal possessions.

While we continue to learn more about the situation, we urge everyone not to speculate or jump to conclusions before all the facts are known.  Our goal is to provide a welcoming environment and stellar service to McDonald’s customers around the world

Thank you.

Since we weren’t there to witness the account first hand, and there was no video footage of the incident, it’s hard to say who’s right or wrong. But with photographs on his blog showing the McDonald’s staff tearing up his doctor’s letter, Dr. Mann is likely to be the victim of this incident. McDonald’s claims that it will continue to investigate the situation though we doubt it’ll be changing its statement anytime soon.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: EyeTap director allegedly assaulted by McDonald employees for wearing digital eye glass, McDonalds Japan offers exclusive Nintendo 3DS downloadable content with your meal,