Vodka that talks

Russians hardly need any new reason to embrace a bottle of vodka - believe it or not, about a billion liters are consumed annually in the country. So, slightly more than seven liters per head, including newborn babies and pensioners. The tradition is long and (in)glorious, and neither the tsarist nor the communist commissars managed to stop it, not even the most serious campaign launched so far in the mid-eighties by the then party genes, Mikhail Gorbachev. The most common cause of premature death among men in Russia is not cardiovascular disease, as is the case in most developed countries today. Russians suffer the most, either directly from alcohol or from alcohol-related accidents (traffic accidents, injuries at work, negligence, etc.). The number of those who get poisoned from bad "self-made vodka" (vodka baked at home... cheap, but can also lead to blindness or death) rises to several tens of thousands a year.

Vodka that talks

In the evening, immediately after working hours, the most common "purchase" in all shops, supermarkets, boutiques, kiosks is a half-liter bottle (or two, three) of vodka, some black bread, sausages and pickles. Sometimes a couple of bottles of beer for "concreting". Maybe a liter of juice to make it easier. The customers are of all ages, alone or in pairs... It is also obvious that it is an ongoing supply for that one evening. Women are also not disgusted by the bottle. They also buy them when they are alone, or in the company of a friend.

FRIENDSHIP UZ TECHNOLOGY: But if they don't have anyone to keep them company, and they can't see the bottom of the glass/bottle without chatting, technology will help vodka lovers in Russia from the end of this month. The bottle stopper will soon start talking…

It is a patent of the private company ITEM, which deals with high-tech products. One of the co-owners and founders, Dmitriy, was a top expert in the Russian space program until he got sick of working for a movie ticket and (eventually) a seed chip. In the private sector, Žurin hopes, it will be better. Judging by market research, but only on the basis of the talking stopper, the famous "better tomorrow" is almost already here.

Everything started from Žurin's idea to give the objects around him a soul... or, at least, the ability to speak. At the same time, unlike electronic goliaths like Siemens, which works on the production of kettles that will let you know when the most favorable water temperature for a certain type of tea has been reached, Žurina is not interested in the useful or "useful" use of the object. On the contrary, something totally or partially unnecessary, like a bottle stopper. We are already working on the improvement of other items that should remind the customer of his childhood when he believed that almost every thing had its own hidden life. Like the furniture from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

CHEERS... HIK!: A tinny electronic voice from the stopper occurs as soon as you open it. The current repertoire consists of toasts, the occasional song and a note that it is good to drink in company, even if it is a microchip. That pleasure will increase the price of a bottle of premium vodka from the current three or four dollars to about ten. But even in impoverished Russia, this will not be an obstacle, says Natasha Vladugina, head of development at ITEM. "We were surprised ourselves. The first public opinion polls showed that an incredible 98 percent of respondents are interested and would buy such a bottle of vodka when it is available in stores."

At the end of the day, adds Vladugina, you don't just buy a bottle of vodka, you buy a representative bottle whose stopper talks, and the content of the bottle is only in second place. "It is primarily a product that is bought as a gift or for a special occasion." ITEM is currently negotiating with leading producers of premium vodka and the first batches will be made exclusively for the national team. For now, the stopper speaks only in Russian, but there is no technological barrier to speak any language of the world and say anything. Hik!