With the original Famous Ray's Pizza closing, New Yorkers everywhere are wondering: how can the country's goal of a 50% obesity rate be achieved by 2030? With a little help from our robot friends, we'll be getting fatter right on schedule: two New York City entrepreneurs are currently testing a pizza-making vending machine that can crank out a pie in 90 seconds. That's right, in the time that it takes you to call your favorite pizzeria and beg them to use ranch dressing instead of tomato sauce just one more time, you could have a piping hot pie! more ›

In the US today there are nearly 5.4 million vending machines and almost seven percent of them are located in elementary, middle and high schools. Scary, but even scarier is the fact that until recently most of those machines were not even close to healthy. Not that it really matters? Though school districts across the country are trying to bring healthy vending machines to their hallways, they are finding the same thing that fast food companies have found: People don't go to vending machines for healthy food. more ›

It was bad enough when Pennsylvania got its first self-serve wine kiosks last year, with thousands of bottles available at the click of a button in grocery stores. But now, they've gone too far: the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is on the verge of approving a pilot program to sell hard liquor out of those wine vending kiosks. Why is the sixth borough at the cutting edge of alco-vending machine technology??? more ›

After a ban on baked goods, city public schools were left with the option of selling "healthy" treats like Pop Tarts and reduced-fat Doritos for a boost in revenue. Except that isn't exactly working either. Due to a dispute between the Department of Education and the City Comptroller, commissions from at least $540,000 in profits have been kept from the schools. more ›

Okay, so the school Bake Sale is on its way out, and with that the kiddies vending machines will also be trimmed of their fat. The NY Times reports that under their new regulations the Department of Education are stocking up schools with healthier choices; "New vending machine contracts expected to be approved on Wednesday could mean less junk food — and less money for schools." more ›