Drink All You Want... the Smart Coaster Will Order More

Depending on your point of view, it's either the year's most brilliant or most ridiculous innovation. Two German college students (who else?) have invented a "smart" beer coaster that can sense when your beer glass is getting empty, and automatically order you another round.

With the football and hockey seasons now underway, and the World Series pending, sports bars in particular should find such coasters especially useful. Indeed, North American beer vendors have been in touch with the German students to discuss manufacturing deals.

Perhaps by then, an upgraded version will be smart enough to automatically charge your credit or debit card, remember your preferred brew, flirt with the coaster at the next table, cut you off before you've had one too many, and call a cab to take you home.

Source: Reuters (MSNBC)