Consumerist has an office?? I thought it was a LifeHacker-esque arrangement where everyone is on their own in their own apartment.

What, no all-puppy petting zoo?

@theblackdog_Happy250thGuinness!: They're anti-puppy 'round these parts. You and I can band together and start a puppy petting zoo! ANARCHY!!!!

@katstermonster: And I'll be available for help if you need to skin them :)

@MostlyHarmless: Whatever, Cruella.

Is this the greatest thing ever?

All sources point to yes!

@MostlyHarmless: The office is in my mind.

@katstermonster: Anarchy indeed. Dogs and cats living together = MASS HYSTERIA

I don't even like ice cream and I'd have to try this thing just to see it in action. (This is the same premise that convinces me to operate those penny squisher machines at rest stops.)

According to their website, one of the flavors is "cake batter".

That is awesome.

@Laura Northrup: The office you described is beyond awesome.

Can we get one of these magic ice cream machines for the apartment!?

meh ill pass, cus i like my ice cream like i like my women, self-serve...ing

@katstermonster: "I'm sorry dogs, but cats are the best pets of all time. OF ALL TIME!" - Kanye

@firemunkie: dammit i meant cold and self-serve...ing

Last I looked, dairy requires constant refrigeration and if they're using powdered milk and cream, they can keep it.

@Taliskan: Yes, right in the bank of pinball machines.

It's like one of those milkshake machines at Wawa or the QT (the ones where you buy a cup with a frozen puck of milkshake in the bottom and it blends it to the desired thickness), only you can mix in a candy bar or something... I remember a co-worker of mine in Allentown poured a package of M&Ms into a chocolate shake cup and put it in the blender machine. Made a hell of a lot of noise. Ended up breaking the thing. Because of him, they posted a sign advising people not to pour candy into the milkshake cups... Ruined it for everybody!

Those shakes were damn good too. Looks like I need to run to QT on my lunchbreak.

@katstermonster: I think it's the job of the reader panel to create a puppy petting utopia.

College students (and Mikey) like ANYthing.
Proof: most horrible drink ever, the Skip & Go Naked:
Vodka. Powdered lemonaide.
More vodka. More powdered lemonaide.
Stir well and serve to grateful (!) college students.

I'll charitably leave out PBR & Coors Lite out of the conversation, since: overkill.

I wouldn't be so worried about it being non-refrigerated. I mean, they make those UHT packs of milk. Its possible it has bunches of those (in flavors, obviously) in there, when it needs to make ice cream it pours out the required amount, adds in the mixins (which would most likely be shelf stable anyway) and then nitrouses them to death!

@MostlyHarmless: Funny. I always pictured their HQ on Marooned Island, hidden in the eternal fog banks of the East River. Ruled by feral cats. With lab-coated, wand-wielding Ben & Meg serving as Court Regents. Overshadowed by a looming mountain shaped like a Golden Poo.
Tin-can & string phones, mud thatched huts, but row upon row of sleek iMacs and a T1 line connecting them to Manhattan.
Oh. And a vodka still. No, scratch that, five vodka stills.

That sounds gross. :P

@katstermonster: Yay, even though we know that cats are the real reason there's anarchy!

Surely I wasn't the only one to think of Rubella when I read the name. One strawberry with red sprinkles please!

@Trai_Dep: Blech, that sounds nasty, even by my college student standards. Besides, with us it was all about the Pikey Tea.

@Smashville_makes his own comments at home: You must like Fish Sticks

Well, I didn't want ice cream before this, but now I remember I have some of those cracktastic Trader Joe's ice cream sandwiches in the fridge. Thanks, Consumerist!

@AD8BC: Who-to-the-what-now? I had no idea that Wawa or QT had such an amazing thing!

My guess is, the folks who can't wait to eat ice cream, can't wait for the machine to make it either. They'll be opening up their boxes of Ben & Jerry's before this thing's done dispensing.

@katstermonster: The all-puppy petting zoo is in the other employee lounge, next to the cupcake machine.

@theblackdog_Happy250thGuinness!: To be fair we (yup: I was one of the guilty parties) rationalized it as "Fun, Citrusy Tang... With a Rocket!"
Sigh. The wisdom of freshmen.

@Trai_Dep:
That's now how WE make Skip and Go Naked-

3 cans frozen concentrated grape juice
1 1.75 l of vodka
30 pk of Cheap beer

Voila! Boozy Punch even yer grammy would like.
I know- cause my Grammy likes it.

@The Porkchop Express: Bring me the head of Carlos Mencia!

@Laura Northrup: The cupcake machine next to the bacon bar or the cupcake machine next to the beer fountain?

I went to WPI and got to use it. The ice cream was pretty good, but everytime we ate it we joked about the time we were taking off of our lives. The ice cream comes liquid in bags and gets mixed with flavors and frozen on the spot.

@madanthony: They have that flavor at Coldstone. It's really good. It really tastes like cake batter!

@theblackdog_Happy250thGuinness!: Cats rule, dogs drool.

@madanthony: Birthday cake is better.

O yea, and it freezes it in a thin layer on a cold plate.

@Smashville_makes his own comments at home: I work in Boston and we had one of these Moo Bella machines in the food court of our building last year. I guess some students must have been testing it out.
Frankly it sucked and they removed it very soon after and put in a Richardsons

@h3llc4t has a slow work day: The video didn't give me the impression that you got to see all that much of the makings, except for the final loading into the cup.

@lmarconi: Why do you hate America? Is it our freedom?

@clickbam: They have one now at WPI? Cool, I'm about ten minutes from there and I'm an alum. Where is it?

@Smashville_makes his own comments at home: It's between the bacon bar and the hamster dispenser.

@Laura Northrup: There's a jam in the hamster chute!

Do you have a way to keep the kittens in perpetual kitten state? My wife would love if you did and could share that. However if you just cycle them through when they get too old, we're already on that program.

@mechteach: Oh man it's great. Called F'real, you go to this little freezer and pull out a cup and pull off the top. There is a frozen puck of shake mix at the bottom. You put it in the machine and select your favorite thickness and it pulls it inside and a super powerful blender takes over and before you know it you have a terrific milkshake.

[www.freal.com]

I wonder who cleans these things out and confirms they're free of harmful bacteria...

@scoosdad:

C^2 basement food court