The plot thickens! Dr. Steve Mann, the human cyborg made famous by an incident in a Parisian McDonald’s, just released a new picture (above) of his altercation with a McD’s staffer. The picture clearly shows a McDonald’s employee touching Dr. Mann’s permanently installed augmented reality eye piece. This invalidates McDonald’s statement, which claims “interaction with Dr. Mann was polite and did not involve a physical altercation.”
Dr. Mann stated the man struck the EyeTap, but like a side-swipe, grabbing motion rather than a direct punch to the face. Apparently, the man touching (or striking) the eye piece is the same person who eventually pushed Dr. Mann on to the street. The person in the background of the new picture later tears up (below) the letter from Mann’s doctor, explaining the device’s need and removal process.
Again, like I stated yesterday, without a video of the incident, it’s hard to say which party is in the wrong but Dr. Mann’s still images tell a chilling story all by themselves.
McDonald’s released a statement yesterday regarding the incident,
“We share the concern regarding Dr. Mann’s account of his July 1 visit to a McDonald’s in Paris. McDonald’s France was made aware of Dr. Mann’s complaints on July 16, and immediately launched a thorough investigation. The McDonald’s France team has contacted Dr. Mann and is awaiting further information from him.
In addition, several staff members involved have been interviewed individually, and all independently and consistently expressed that their interaction with Dr. Mann was polite and did not involve a physical altercation. Our crew members and restaurant security staff have informed us that they did not damage any of Mr. Mann’s personal possessions.
While we continue to learn more about the situation, we are hearing from customers who have questions about what happened. We urge everyone not to speculate or jump to conclusions before all the facts are known. Our goal is to provide a welcoming environment and stellar service to McDonald’s customers around the world.”
- McDonald’s
By now you probably heard of Dr. Steve Mann and his altercation in a Parisian McDonald’s. He alleges that several McDonald’s staffers forcibly tried to remove the augmented reality eyepiece that’s essentially permanently installed into his skull. Well, McDonald’s just released a statement denying Dr. Mann’s claims. While McDonald’s acknowledges staff inquired about the device, the company insists “their interaction with Dr. Mann was polite and did not involve a physical altercation.”
McDonald’s statement via KurzweilAl,
“We share the concern regarding Dr. Mann’s account of his July 1 visit to a McDonald’s in Paris. McDonald’s France was made aware of Dr. Mann’s complaints on July 16, and immediately launched a thorough investigation. The McDonald’s France team has contacted Dr. Mann and is awaiting further information from him.
In addition, several staff members involved have been interviewed individually, and all independently and consistently expressed that their interaction with Dr. Mann was polite and did not involve a physical altercation. Our crew members and restaurant security staff have informed us that they did not damage any of Mr. Mann’s personal possessions.
While we continue to learn more about the situation, we are hearing from customers who have questions about what happened. We urge everyone not to speculate or jump to conclusions before all the facts are known. Our goal is to provide a welcoming environment and stellar service to McDonald’s customers around the world.”
- McDonald’s
At this point it’s rather hard to say which party is in the wrong here. There isn’t any video of the incident. That said, Dr. Mann’s EyeTap head-mounted display happened to catch and store several telling images of staffers getting up close and personal.
This isn’t the first time a McDonald’s defended wrongdoing in a Parisian location. Last August a McD’s staffer allegedly assaulted an American traveler for taking a picture of the menu board and, incidentally, the employee as well. At the time McDonald’s denied the physical confrontation and later told CBS it was “unfortunate misunderstanding” made worse because of a language barrier.
This incident does raise concerns about the future of wearable displays, though. The rights of others is equally important as the rights of the wearer. Google Glass and its eventual clones will make video recording trivial and almost invisible. Some people simply do not want to be part of a random life blog.
You deserve a break today, indeed. Augmented reality pioneer Steve Mann visited a Parisian McDonald’s with is family a month ago. Mann has a system called the EyeTap physically installed in his skull that records video and streams augmented reality data directly to his retina. Upon ordering, McDonald’s employees at 140, Avenue Champs Elysees, Paris accosted Mann and tried to tear the glasses out of his head.
That was after he ordered something called a Chicken Ranch Wrap.
He writes:
Subsequently another person within McDonalds physically assaulted me, while I was in McDonand’s, eating my McDonand’s Ranch Wrap that I had just purchased at this McDonald’s. He angrily grabbed my eyeglass, and tried to pull it off my head. The eyeglass is permanently attached and does not come off my skull without special tools. I tried to calm him down and I showed him the letter from my doctor and the documentation I had brought with me. He (who I will refer to as Perpetrator 1) then brought me to two other persons. He was standing in the middle, right in front of me, and there was another person to my left seated at a table (who I will refer to as Perpetrator 2), and a third person to my right. The third person (who I will refer to as Perpetrator 3) was holding a broom and dustpan, and wearing a shirt with a McDonald’s logo on it. The person in the center (Perpetrator 1) handed the materials I had given him to the person to my left (Perpetrator 2), while the three of them reviewed my doctor’s letter and the documentation. After all three of them reviewed this material, and deliberated on it for some time, Perpetrator 2 angrily crumpled and ripped up the letter from my doctor. My other documentation was also destroyed by Perpetrator 1.That a pioneer like Mann would be accosted – in Paris, of all places – is a travesty. That it would happen in that paragon of openness and light, McDonald’s is an absolute shame. Apparently McDonald’s employees in Paris don’t like people taking pictures of their menus and this isn’t the first time Parisian Friends-Of-Ronald attacked someone with a camera in their stores.
Although I may seem flip here, I’m not. I propose a boycott of McDonald’s (not like you were going to go anyway) until Mann reports restitution for damages. This is an outrage and it’s terrible that Mann had to go through this.
The world’s largest McDonald’s restaurant is being for the London Olympics this summer, with a seating capacity of over 1,500. No word if McDonald’s thought ‘build the largest restaurant’ was going to be a medal event this year.
With 1,500 seats and spanning about half the length of a football field, the fast-food restaurant is planning on selling about 50,000 Big Macs, 100,000 orders of french fries and 30,000 milkshakes [during the Olympics]. To serve all this up, McDonald’s is looking to have more than 450 people on staff.
McDonald’s has a long-standing relationship with the Olympics games — this year will be the ninth year the chain has been the Olympics official restaurant and is the only restaurant feeding athletes, the paper reported.
Oh, McDonald’s has a long-standing relationship with the Olympics alright — making sure young athletes never make it to them! But seriously, is McDonald’s really the only restaurant feeding athletes during the Olympics? You better bring your own damn food if they are. Because otherwise you know who’s gonna win? NOBODY.
Thanks to Evil Ares, who’s so evil he filled the shake machine with laxatives.
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The world’s largest McDonald’s restaurant is being for the London Olympics this summer, with a seating capacity of over 1,500. No word if McDonald’s thought ‘build the largest restaurant’ was going to be a medal event this year.
With 1,500 seats and spanning about half the length of a football field, the fast-food restaurant is planning on selling about 50,000 Big Macs, 100,000 orders of french fries and 30,000 milkshakes [during the Olympics]. To serve all this up, McDonald’s is looking to have more than 450 people on staff.
McDonald’s has a long-standing relationship with the Olympics games — this year will be the ninth year the chain has been the Olympics official restaurant and is the only restaurant feeding athletes, the paper reported.
Oh, McDonald’s has a long-standing relationship with the Olympics alright — making sure young athletes never make it to them! But seriously, is McDonald’s really the only restaurant feeding athletes during the Olympics? You better bring your own damn food if they are. Because otherwise you know who’s gonna win? NOBODY.
Thanks to Evil Ares, who’s so evil he filled the shake machine with laxatives.
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You could enjoy that Big Mac in the peace and artery-clogging quiet of your local McDonald’s, or you could just catch the next flight to Stockholm, where Ronald apparently serves his meals with a side of interactive, outdoor gaming. It’s all part of something called Pick n’ Play — a new (and pretty ingenious) ad campaign that invites pedestrians to play a game of Pong on a giant Mickey D’s billboard, using only their smartphones. All you have to do is stand in front of the display, log on to Pick n’ Play’s site from your handheld, and wait for your phone to verify your location. From there, you’ll have to manipulate an onscreen paddle using your device’s touchscreen, while doing battle with a game that gets increasingly more difficult. Last thirty seconds, though, and you’ll get a free, lipid-drenched treat of your choice, courtesy of the Golden Arches. Best of all, you won’t even have to download an app to get your Pong on — putting you one step closer to that coronary you’ve always wanted. Trot past the break to see it for yourself.
Continue reading McDonald’s interactive Pong billboard brings big-screen elation, tomorrow’s lunch
McDonald’s interactive Pong billboard brings big-screen elation, tomorrow’s lunch originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Jun 2011 23:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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WANT FREE STUFF?! CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE! tinyurl.com this is my fourth video of the first dy on the job series. after encountering industrial robotics, being a substatute teacher, and a constuction worker our character faced a new chalange…….McDonalds…. unfortunatly after awhile he was not lovin it. buring the first coustermers burger was not a great first imprestion. grease fies were ocational and this being a high crime area a burgaler may drop by……..
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In this Bloomberg report, we get a brief look at McDonald’s own DS employee training software that’s used in Japan. It’s like Cooking Mama, just a lot more depressing when you “win.” [Kotaku] More »
Props to Gizmodo
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