Virtual Beer Satisfies Every Sense - Except Taste

Thinking of a cool, frosty beer after a long day at work or play? Just imagine cracking open a cold one... nice! Now you can experience the vicarious pleasure of popping open a beer or soda can anytime, anywhere, as often as you want. 

In a famous series of experiments, Pavlov showed that dogs expecting food will salivate when a "food bell" is rung. Well, we're not so different from our canine buddies - humans associate the touch, sound and action of opening a chilled can with the pleasure of drinking a delicious beer or soda.

This reflex is what the makers of the Mugen Virtual Can had in mind, and old Pavlov must be grinning in his grave! 

The can is actually made of plastic and it's less than an inch tall, making it easy to attach to your cell phone, rucksack, rearview mirror or whatever with the attached ball chain. Inside lurks a tiny sound chip activated when you pop the very realistic looking tab.

One added feature of these virtual drink cans is that every 30 pulls of the tab you'll hear a "weird, stupid or funny" sound. One assumes it's not the sound of a trapped, drunken mouse.

Check out this video to virtually enjoy opening a virtual beer...




In any case, the Mugen (which means "dream" or "fantasy" in Japanese) Beer or Soda Can comes in 6 styles: 4 beer, 1 cola and 1 cider. They're priced at just 820 yen (about $8.54) each and "can" be ordered online direct from Strapya World in Tokyo, Japan.