Cool!

McDonald’s Just Did Something Musically Awesome to Its Drink Trays

I still remember the time a friend showed me the genius of a Big Mac box design. “You open it up and dump your fries in the top half. That keeps them close at hand, holds the ketchup in better and doesn’t let them scatter all over your tray. Simple yet so effective.”

Now when you see what McDonald’s has done to its drink trays, you’ll say “Dammit! Why didn’t I think of that?”

McDonald’s of Canada got together with some design people at Stacklab and the University of Waterloo to add convenience and fun to the restaurant experience. They came up with a way to turn recyclable drink trays into boom boxes. Stay with me.

Using well-known acoustic principles, the new trays–available for a limited time, apparently–turn any smartphone into a something that can provide a decent music listening experience. Just turn the tray upside down, make a couple of speakers out of two flaps on the bottom, insert a smartphone and voila!

Okay, this could turn every McDonald’s into a roomful of competing sound systems, but you gotta admire the innovation at work here, no?

If you live in the Toronto area, be on the lookout for these things. They’ve already been spotted in the wild.

Via Inc. and Andrew

 

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 38040 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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