What is Digg?123 Comments
- xxshinwaxx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+61You do realize that they specifically recommend you to give them codes that you've already submitted right?
- osbjmg, on 10/12/2007, -2/+43How do they know I didn't just type in a random number?
- Serinox, on 10/12/2007, -3/+40hows this gonna help? we're still gonna be buying the losing caps. Still worth a digg though
- Dabellah, on 10/12/2007, -3/+30Diet Dew tastes like *****.
- RyeBrye, on 10/12/2007, -0/+22I also thought it was funny when cans of coke made durring that promotion were banned from certain government agencies... I think the military even banned those cans.
*bsshht... I have the bunker in sight. Going radio silent* < opens coke > *thwump thwump thwump thwump* (WTF??!?!?! How did they find me!) - tito13kfm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21Unfortunately, without an alogrithm to compare entered codes to, people who intentionally enter "false" codes or even mistype real codes will make it infinitely harder for them to figure out the method used.
- stou, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21Hey whatever happened to those Coke cans that had the GPS transmitter in there and when you open that ish, Coka Cola will deliver a car to your exact location using a helicopter? That ***** was pretty sick.
- samryan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+22Almost every algorithm produces patterns; the only tough thing about figuring them out is having a large enough sample of products (the goal of this site.)
I sort of doubt the wisdom of digging this, though - I bet they'll get hundreds of randomly entered fake codes. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13They'll see how the alphanumerical codes are generated. I wish I could send some cap codes, but I'm a Pepsi guy.
Hellomoto, you could just give the code after you redeem it. - Technopundit, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Yeh, it's like when you meet a girl and the first thing she does is make you feel like loser. You flick your cigarette ashes in her drink whe she isn't looking, and suddenly her beverage doesn't taste as good.
- dkarlson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9@shoolz -- Forgive my ignorance -- but if the numbers are random, how do they validate them? I would think it would be easier to validate codes against an algorithm, rather than track all the actual codes.
I'm not really sure of the point of cracking the numbers in the first place, AFAIK the contest ends soon... - spyder91, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10You still have to sign an affidavit and produce the physical winning cap if the prize is worth anything... so I'm assuming this would be for them to be able to say they did it and nothing more. Hey, I'd be proud to say that myself.
- nphp20, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7@ bobbles
There aren't any "winning caps" in this promo. You open a coke, enter the code in, and you're done. All the caps give you credit. - abeg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I opened up a container of yogurt, and under the lid it said "Please Try Again," because apparently they were having a contest I was unaware of. But I thought I might have opened the yogurt wrong. Or maybe Yoplait was trying to inspire me — "C'mon, Mitchell, don't give up. Please try again. A message of inspiration from your friends at Yoplait — Fruit on the bottom, hope on top."
Mitch Hedberg - bobbles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7@ai42...
wouldnt you just have a database of the *very few* winning codes?
I don't see the importance of having every possible code and then matching against them all, you would have the (however many it is) winning codes and compare each submission to that... - Jawshy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7If some people weren't ***** (taking about the ones entering false codes), they wouldn't have that problem.
- zyphbear, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Wanna see how fast a company stops doing promotions like these? find a way of cheating the system. At least the "Pepsi iTunes Promo" cheat that was out there still required you to buy a soda (after seeing it had a winning cap) and that code could only be used once. And even that was only 1 in 3, so you in theory buy 3 bottles of soda and and have at least one winner. And even if they do "find" the winning code, or generate it, Many of the rules do state you have to have the winning cap (though its funny since they all say how you can enter your code via SMS on your cell phone, even less likely that cap will ever make it to a "safe storage area" in your home.) I think this kind of thing should not only be frowned upon, but these people and their friends should be watched because even though they MAY not do anything with this information in this contest, they could try to take this knowledge and cheat out of the next REAL contest and be the "million dollar winner" or something. Same reason employees of the company involved can't enter, they are partial to the rules and could cheat to win. (which was part of the whole McDonalds Monopoly promo issue a few years back). While they said they "will not be publishing our findings until the current algorithm is no longer in use", unfortunately, they don't know if the same algorithm could be used from here until eternity, and if they may use it in the future and just not "publish" the findings.
I say, take the time and put it to better use, maybe the next Torrent system? Maybe the next PGP? I mean there has got to be something else you can do here instead of trying to generate winning codes. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+12Diet Dew has to be like drinking piss.
I always add a couple tablespoons of sugar to my Dew. I throw in some M&Ms too so I really get that sugar crunching between my teeth sensation. - chaosmachine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+650 to 60 million codes.. and the codes are what, 20 characters?
so that's 1.2 gig database.. not exactly supercomputer material. you could easily do it with a couple linux boxes.
@mccluret: you can purchase hardware that will generate true random numbers via radioactive decay for a couple hundred dollars. - WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Snapple used to have a bottlecap rewards program, but they ended It. Maybe they realized it was bad advertising if the first thing you see when you remove the cap is...a message inside telling you that 'you are a loser'. It maybe made the contents of the bottle not taste as good. So they stopped.
- Dabellah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I believe they are doing it to take a stand against corporate idiocy like this. Why not just go back to the "You won a free coke!" or the "Sorry try again!" caps. Those were a lot better cuz you could redeem them instantly =/
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Well ya it doesn't taste like regular dew (that purple dew is best.....forgot the name) but it gets caffeine in my system and that's all I care about. You and your m&m's and sugar are the reason you're a fatass.
- gkoberger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4it helps if you read the website you're commenting on...
- dkarlson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@kokuou -- Good catch. Did you miss "infinate", "infinetely", "nessiciarly", and "fisaco"?
- JM13, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3By the way, whoever said you just purchase the losing codes anyway, check the back of the bottle. I'm pretty sure it says "No Purchase Necessary."
- drakonite, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@nphp20
The lack of certain characters means nothing as to it's randomness.. Certain letters are often omitted due to readability.
Serial number type systems often have a check built into them, which can cause patterns to appear, which allows for guessed patterns to be easily spotted, however which "valid" serials have prizes attached is still completely random and requires using a lookup table.
Remember, computers can lookup an entry in a sorted table insanely fast, even if there are trillions of entries. Turn it into a tree and it's even faster. Add in the fact that they know which serials are out there, and which have been claimed (and thus can be culled) and searching through a table/tree to validate is trivial. - TyRaNNOus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3yes but random numbers are generated by ever changing seed value's so there is no real pattern. You can crack the algorithm for one number, but that will never allow you to crack the code. Even with the algorithm you'd need to figure out what seed value was used for winning bottle caps, and that could be infinite amount of possibilities.
- AlexApetrei, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3crazy marketers, what will they think of next ey ?
stop buying coke to win stuff... it's pointless, in fact stop buying anything that says you COULD win some stuff by purchasing more of that product.
This story is lame .
Yet , entertaining ... maybe Digg should add an entertainment/funny section. - SniperX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3People are automatically stupid for not validating their codes first? Maybe the person just knows that they will never collect a thousand codes to get anything worthwhile in the time period of the contest, and thus does not care. I know I for one would have no problem giving my code to someone, or some site if I was sitting here drinking a bottle of coke. LET ALONE someone wanting to use the code for some scientific fun.
- stealingshrimp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'm one of the two people. I just want to comment on a few things. We've noticed limits to the code so far, so 99% of fake codes will be deleted. The other thing, we don't believe it to be random because some chars of the code have different bounds. For instance the first number in the code can only be one of 4 numbers and 12 letters, all the others can be 20 different alpha numeric entries. Other numbers in the entries seems to relate to one another through frequency data analysis. The first step will be getting a large data pool and running several programs to analyze and search for a definite pattern, then if just one pattern is noticed - then we know it's not random.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If they dont get the numbers from the winning caps, how is it going to help them find the correct algorithm? For all anyone knows, unless your a Coca-Cola executive and you know how this is being done, Coca-Cola could have a bunch of hamsters jumping on keyboards. Thus making up completely random combinations.
- nphp20, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@ shoolz
I doubt code isn't random. If you do some googling, you'll find a forum where people are trying to crack the mycokerewards code. They've collected enough codes for them to rule out that the code is randomly generated, such as the fact that certain characters are never used in the codes, or that:
"the number has to be some kind of immediate validation -- they don't look up 20 billion characters to see if your code is correct --there has to be an immediate validation -- which typically involves some type of check digit validation..."
Do some googling... you'll find the forum.
But anyway, it's not all that useful. The contest ends 01/15/07, so they've got to figure out the algo by then (provided there is one). - Protoss, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Those were the good ol' days...I remember with Sprite the rumor was you pick the second one back in the rack, and the odds are then 1:3 instead of 1:6 :P
- ferrell, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Why do the codes have to be the product of a mathematical function?
Couldn't they just as easily be a set of random numbers stored in a database on coke's website? - salmonmoose, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Of course, you know artificial sweetener is far far worse for you than the callories, at least you can work them off.
- hotdrop, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3give aways are marketing promotions its not like they are giving ***** away out of the goodness of their hearts
- mccluret, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I read an article on Wired.com a while back that talked about how seemingly "random" numbers generated by computers were inevitably part of an algorithm. (The article talked about the random setting in iTunes, but it did mention that fact)
So, in that case, they would still be able to break the random generator's algorithm. - spyder91, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@mccluret
If you take two graphing calculators of the same make and model (did this back in high school with TI-83s) and clear both unit's ram, then hit the random number key (or sequence of keys) both will output the same thing from push to push. Same idea. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If they had people submit the actual physical cap it would work. That might take too much effort on their part.
- mungk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Several people have made references to "winning caps". That's not how the Coke Rewards works. It's simply an acrual of points that you can redeem for stuff; all the caps are equivalent. Kind of like winning tickets when you play skee ball that you can redeem at the arcade for candy and crappy toys. Only the Coke rewards are even more of a rip off.
For instance, for 36 points you can get a free rental at Blockbuster! At this point you should be thinking to yourself, "Wow! I can buy two dozen 20 oz. cokes and I can then get a free movie rental? That's incredible!" Alternatively, you could be thinking, "Screw that crap, what a rip off!" I recommend the latter. - pjsk8, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"(that purple dew is best.....forgot the name)"
You're thinking of Mountain Dew : Pitch Black. They also had Mountain Dew : Pitch Black II which was a sour version of Pitch Black. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6Wow qtip way to go with the assumptions, doesn't make you look that bright. Actually I'm in good shape, I live in the city and bike everywhere.
You are the metrosexual pussy counting calories and whining about how you can't drink regular soda, just like a fat emo girl. - Dabellah, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Drinking it doesn't make you a loser, but thinking like you are makes you a paranoid individual. People including my 80 year old grandfather have been drinking all sorts of sodas (even back when they were WAY worse for you years ago) as they have come out and changed, including Coke, and he's got to be the healthiest guy his age I've ever known. He sometimes has energy that can outperform the little kids in the family where they wanna stop playing with grandpa cuz he plays too mean or too hard. Sure, the ingredients might just have those sorts of effects, but the environment changed EVEN SLIGHTLY can completely change the outcome of a chemical reaction such as this. In other words, what happens in the human body could be completely different than a test tube. Temperatures, fluids and other surrounding reactions could change everything.
- nrbelex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1And now a whole internet community learns about the "Hardware random number generator" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_random_number_generator
"In computing, a hardware random number generator is an apparatus that generates random numbers from a physical process. Such devices are typically based on microscopic phenomena such as thermal noise or the photoelectric effect or other quantum phenomena. These processes are, in theory, completely unpredictable, and the theory's assertions of unpredictability are subject to experimental test. A quantum-based hardware random number generator typically contains an amplifier to bring the output of the physical process into the macroscopic realm, and a transducer to convert the output into a digital signal...." - lordbelial, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3"We do not advocate the misuse of these codes and will not be publishing our findings until the current algorithm is no longer in use"
Then what the hell is even the point of doing this? Why would you even take the time to "crack a code" if its not going to be used to help yourself or others in some way. For the love of god. Why are there so many asinine morons on the Internet who run pointless projects such as this? If every retard on the net would put their efforts into some something that might actually be useful to the rest of the planet, society would be a much better place. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2You're an idiot. There ARE true random number generators out there. Every online poker site has them. As do everyone else that requires true random numbers.
Here's some reading material: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_random-number_generator
Now go back to your 1337 script-kiddy site. - travisutk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2He never claimed that "99% of [his] codes are correct", only that "99% of fake codes will be deleted". There's quite a difference.
Perhaps your ought to read his post before calling him a liar. - Philbert, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I wouldn't bother with this for the same reason I don't bother with the real contests. I don't want to enter a friggin code on a website, just tell me if I won a prize or not. It's just giving you a reason to go to their website so they can advertise to you more and I refuse to fall for their ruse.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1100%. They would not be running this themselves - they have advertising agencies that specialise in these kinds of promotions doing this. Their agency would have thought of this.
- ngomong, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Anyone with basic programming knowledge would know that computers must be provided with an algorithm in order to generate random numbers. Which means that it is possible to figure out the algorithm being used."
Yeah, but what does knowing the algorithm tell you? You can generate a list of 1,000,000 codes, then arbitrarily assign a prize to 10 of them. Knowing the algorithm gains you nothing. -
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