Dj10bear

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Slurpee, which grew along with 7-Eleven to become the preeminent frozen sugary beverage in this country, and perhaps in the world. Like any product that old, the Slurpee has a fascinating history.

Here are a few highlights from Eater’s recent brief history of the drink:

1. You might think of the ICEE as a competitor or knockoff of the Slurpee, but it’s actually a semi-estranged parent: the ICEE was invented in the late ’50s, and 7-Eleven licensed the beverage-freezing technology behind the machine in 1965.

2. The inventor of the ICEE machine used parts of a car air conditioner to create the machine, and the legend says that he drew inspiration from a bottle of soda left in the freezer overnight that became delicious.

3. Frozen beverages have the familiar texture they do because of a few important ingredients: heavily sugared water doesn’t freeze at the same temperature as plain water, and a small amount of carbonation gives the semi-frozen beverage a smoother texture.

4. Slurpees arrive in stores in 5-gallon bags which are attached to the machine, so employees don’t have to do any mixing. Their flavor comes from super-concentrated syrups, since it’s harder to form a delicious flavor around ice crystals than to simply dilute it in liquid.

5. There are dozens of Slurpee flavors, including a few that are only available in certain regions. My new life goal is to try the Vernors Ginger Ale variety in Detroit.

6. As consuming huge quantities of sugar falls out of favor for people of all ages, the company began marketing a “light” Slurpee in 2012, under the name Slurpee Lite. It uses saccharin as a sweetener.

7. Following the “natural” sweetener trend, the company is also developing Slurpees that use cane sugar and stevia, and that have bases of fruit juice.

A Brief History of the Slurpee, a Frozen American Icon [Eater]

While we’ve heard numerous reports of Samsung smartphones and tablets overheating and catching fire — sometimes destroying property and injuring customers — now Apple is on the receiving end of at least one similar report. 

Apple says it has opened an investigating into the alleged fire of an iPhone 7 device in Australia, Business Insider reports.

The incident, which happened last week, reportedly occurred when the owner of the week-old phone left it in his pants’ pocket inside his car while he went surfing.

Australia’s 7 News reports that when the man returned to his car it was filled with smoke and its interior was destroyed. The man says that he hadn’t dropped the phone or used a foreign charger.

Photos taken by the man show the phone destroyed: broken in two pieces and charred from the fire.

A spokesperson for Apple told Business Insider that it is aware of the incident and has opened an investigation.

A search of the Consumer Product Safety Commissions’ SaferProducts.gov database shows several reports of customers experiencing fires with their iPhones, however, most were related to the device’s charging cable or an older version of the phone.

In a report from 2013, the owner of a iPhone 3GS tells the CPSC that his device was working fine when he noticed the battery had exploded.

“The phone is now useless,” the report states. “This could have caused serious harm if I had been holding the device to my head and talking on it.”

The Australian incident comes after dozens of customers reported similar fires or smoking of Samsung devices. The issues eventually led the tech company to recall and discontinue production of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone.

Apple is investigating the iPhone 7 a surfer says caught on fire [Business Insider]
iPhone 7 bursts into flames, destroys vehicle [Australia’s 7 News]

As the building for a new Mariano's grocery store in Des Plaines takes shape, the developer in charge of the $24 million project said Thursday the store should be open by next March.

With Pinball Expo 2016 come and gone, pinball fans have had plenty to discuss (and argue) about. For manufacturers unveiling new games, it’s an opportunity to take advantage of the spotlight.

New Trailer For The Hobbit Pinball

Jersey Jack’s second game, The Hobbit was released earlier this year and today the company released this slick and professional trailer that promotes the various features that the game has. For anyone who hasn’t played the game yet, I think it is a good primer that should drive interest in the game. What do you think?

This also was lost in the hustle ‘n bustle of the new game coverage but JJP did announce a new “Black Arrow” version of The Hobbit which has the same price as their Limited Edition game but has a few special changes including black pinballs.

Dialed In! Gameplay

For their 3rd title Dialed In!, the company has also released this footage of the game in action.

There appears to be a lot of debate about this one out in the ‘wonderful’ world of pinball forums, mainly over the price. I think this is due to people being comfortable with where pinball has been for many years, the lack of competition shielding it from price increases but also from innovations.

It is true that the pinball market has had a much stronger focus on collectors as opposed to operators. Such collectors are not accustomed to price increases like we see on the video side of the amusement business. With more video games costing above $20k and $30k, sticker shock isn’t as common on our end. With that said, not all ops embrace pinball because for a long time it has not been a strong earner. I think that is because not all games seem to be designed with location operation in mind, it’s more about pleasing collectors. In my view, a game designed for location operation first will end up appealing to collectors, regardless the price. If that wasn’t the case then classics like Twilight zone, The Addams Family or Medieval Madness wouldn’t have legs today.

JJP titles have reportedly been very strong earners on location so as long as that holds true for Dialed In!, which I think it will, then that will eventually benefit collectors as more locations will buy them, meaning more supply out there to meet demand. That might mean that a collector who finds this game outside of their budget may have to wait longer but it won’t be like trying to find a Joust pinball.

What are your thoughts on this?

The post Jersey Jack Pinball Launches New Trailer For The Hobbit; Dialed In! Gameplay appeared first on Arcade Heroes.

There’s not much fame that comes with being a championship ping pong player. You don’t get shoe deals, ticker tape parades, or cameos in movies. You do, however, get to post awesome trick shot compilation videos to YouTube, leaving the internet completely jealous of your skills with a paddle.

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Not long ago it was announced that Stern Pinball would be celebrating their 30th anniversary by also celebrating the 50th anniversary of the classic TV show Batman. Today the company has unveiled the game in great detail on Facebook. Let’s check out it out and comment

Batman 66

Let’s start off with a few pictures then some comments. First, the flyer that was unveiled a short time ago.

As we unveiled, Eugene Jarvis developed many of the animations and sound that is featured in the game. For students of pinball history, Eugene got his start in the business by programming Atari pinball machines, where he pioneered certain sound techniques.

There are 3 versions (left-to-right): Super Limited Edition, Limited Edition and Premium. The SLE’s have all been privately accounted for so if you didn’t get in on that action, it’s the other two.

The playfield art has deep color and multi-color RGB leds.

Hurray, the first Stern game to feature a full color LCD in the backbox. I had thought they would keep the form factor the same as the DMD but instead they are using what looks to be a 16:9 screen.

The game features toys like the Batmobile and the BatCopter.

The topper for the LE versions (not the Premium). It appears from the pics that this also has a projector built into it that will shine the Bat symbol onto your ceiling.

The crane is similar to the one used in Stern’s 2008 Batman pinball game, now controlled by The Penguin; on the left you can see a 2nd LCD screen that is on a “Villain Vision” TV set. The different villains you play against will taunt you from there. They also have you play through the 3 different seasons of the show.

For the full album, check it out on Facebook here.

Video Of the “Super Limited Edition”

It’s better to see these games in action, here is the Facebook video. If it doesn’t play for you below, here is the direct link.

What are your thoughts on this release?

The post Stern Officially Unveils Batman 66 Pinball appeared first on Arcade Heroes.

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