Keurig says it was wrong to force users to buy single-serving pods

Found on Ars Technica on Thursday, 07 May 2015
Browse Technology

Coffee company Keurig Green Mountain offered something of a mea culpa on Wednesday night, when its CEO admitted that the company had been wrong to build its second-generation coffee makers with tech that prevented users from brewing their own coffee independent of Keurig's licensing.

The response was swift, and people soon discovered that a simple piece of tape covering the scanner would override the “Oops!” message that off-brand coffee pod-buying scoundrels received from the machine.

The question remains why people would want a pod machine at all. If you enjoy your coffee, you certainly don't want it brewed along with some plastic, not to mention the pile of unnecessary plastic waste it generates. All that aside, it's even cheaper to brew real coffee instead of using some chemically enhanced replacement.