Tech Tuesday: D+Caf

Wow! Not all "advances" in technology are as impressive as the LHC, but this may come close.

Essentially a test strip for your beverage to "detect the decaf scamsters". You simply place this strip in the questionable beverage and it uses the same immunoassay technology of pregnancy tests to determine if the concentraction of caffine exceeds 20mg (in a 6 oz. serving).

I don't know where these people have been getting their coffee? I haven't really seen any news regarding scores of people dying from drinking caffinated coffee or evil corporations making money hand-over-fist by selling the leaded version verses decaf (especially since decaffination is an added process that removes the naturally occuring caffine in coffee/cocoa beans and is therefore more costly).

I understand that there are people with caffine sensitivities and others with moral/religious convictions preventing them from drinking the legal stimulant, but is there really enough of a market for these things?

On a side note, speaking of pregnancy tests, I wonder if I ingest enough caffine in the day for one of these strips to come up positive? Hmmmm...

If you're interested in purchasing a 20 pk. of these babies here's the link:
http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2008/12/how_to_detect_the_decaf_scamsters.html

Source: Gizmodo via Discover Testing via MIT Technology Review via Medgadget