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"Coca-Cola launched a viral video last year that featured a magical vending machine that spat out pizzas and free Cokes. Now, rival Pepsi has introduced a real vending machine that has a magical property of its own: It\u2019s social media-enabled.\nPepsiCo\u2019s Social Vending Machine, announced Wednesday at a trade show in Chicago, lets users send free soda to their friends. To do so, users select a beverage and enter the recipient\u2019s name, mobile number and personalized text message with a code redeemable at another vending machine. Consumers can personalize the message with a short video recorded by the machine. There's also an option to send a free beverage to a stranger. \nThe new machine \u201Cextends our consumers\u2019 social networks beyond the confines of their own devices and transforms a static, transaction-oriented experience into something fun,\u201D said Mikel Durham, chief innovation officer at PepsiCo Foodservice, in a statement. Not surprisingly, Coca-Cola is also experimenting with the possibilities of vending machines. Aside from its fictional \"Happiness Machine,\" Coke has also introduced interactive machines with touchscreens. \nThough Pepsi's model represents an evolution in the possibilities for vending machines, the lack of a Facebook or Twitter tie-in is a glaring omission. But considering some recent experiments with Facebook-enabled objects, a vending machine tie-in with the social network seems imminent. A PepsiCo rep says Facebook or other social media integration \"are Phase 2 \u2014 being explored as it evolves.\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2011/04/27/pepsi-vending-machine/>