Smart liquor bottles can keep tabs on your bourbon collection
A close friend of mine returned home from vacation to discover his house sitter -- his brother-in-law -- had downed an entire bottle Pappy Van Winkle 20 year bourbon. A tragedy, really. However, if an alcohol tech duo in Europe has its way, keeping tabs on your stash while you're away could become much easier. Diageo (an alcohol company) and Thinfilm (a printed electronics maker) teamed up to create a "smart bottle" that serves up cocktail recipes and can detect when a bottle has been unsealed. Thinfilm's OpenSense label sensor tags pair with a smartphones NFC chops to run the system that's also capable of tracking supply chain, in-store stock and promotional offers for brands and retailers. The pair constructed a prototype Johnnie Walker Blue bottle that'll be on display at next week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, but there's no word on when a similar solution could make its way to your local liquor store. Maybe the final version will be able to determine how much is left in a bottle, keeping sneaky house quests at bay.
