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The Type-A, High-Tech Bathroom

Carl Bialik from the WSJ writes "Hard-driving homeowners have converted their loos into virtual satellite workspaces, with retractable desks or waterproof touch-screen monitors, the Wall Street Journal reports. Among the features: showerproof computers and mirrors with stock quotes. But beware the accidental 'BlackBerry dunk' in the toilet or sink. 'Audio One says about all of the 30 home-automation systems it's installed near its Miami head office in the past year--prices can reach $200,000--have featured TVs in the bathroom. "It's become a given," says company engineer David Sussman. "There's not much sanctity left." '"

23 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. Brings a new meaning... by squoozer · · Score: 5, Funny

    to the phrase core dump.

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    I used to have a better sig but it broke.
    1. Re:Brings a new meaning... by theOnlyTPC · · Score: 2, Funny

      Also to the term "head office."

      (For those not nautically inclined, on a boat, "head" == "toilet".)

  2. Bad for shower thinkers by glennrrr · · Score: 5, Funny

    Given that I seem to get my best ideas while brushing my teeth, having a computer to distract me would eliminate my last chance for an original thought.

  3. Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you can't even cut the umbilical to the television long enough to take a dump, you need to seriously re-examine your priorities. Next they will be putting computers and refrigerators in there and nobody will ever have to leave the throne room.

    1. Re:Wow by njvic · · Score: 5, Funny

      I've never understood the desire to add more features from other rooms in the house, such as the lounge/kitchen etc to the bathroom. Why not add a loo to the other rooms instead?

    2. Re:Wow by jawtheshark · · Score: 2, Funny
      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
  4. Toilet humor by quokkapox · · Score: 4, Funny
    I just wish the women in my life would have the common decency to just leave the seat up, as they found it.

    Come on ladies, how hard is it to raise the seat after you're finished using it?

    --
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    1. Re:Toilet humor by onebuttonmouse · · Score: 2, Funny

      A woman's brain is different, it can't grasp the complexities of a mechanical device such as a 'hinge'. They can't apply logic like 'if the seat is up, put it down'.

      They're not as good as us, you know.

      --
      MacBook Pro. Worst name since the Bicycle
    2. Re:Toilet humor by SMS_Design · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I have never understood why people make such an issue of the toilet seat. If it's up when you arrive in the restroom and you need it to be down, you can put it down. If it's down when you arrive in the restroom and you need it to be up, you can put it up. NOBODY should concern themselves with the damn status of the toilet seat. Leave it in the position that it ended up in after you used it. The only thing I require of the toilet seat is cleanliness. Other than that, I don't care about the position. Don't you have enough concerns already?

    3. Re:Toilet humor by secolactico · · Score: 2, Funny

      Somewhat whiny, yet funny E2 writeup on the subject:

      I will REMOVE the fucking toilet seat if you don't shut up

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  5. Have you ever tried one of those Japanese toilets? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The type which have the electronically controlled bidets? My wife is Japanese and naturally we visited (and stayed with) the in-laws in her home town...one time I hit that damn bidet button while having a crap and I swear water sprayed out my nose. They have it cranked up real high. It's really just an enema. But it works! None of that 30 minutes on the can stuff in Japan, or that feeling in your guts as you drive to work 15 minutes later that you didn't spend enough time cleaning out...those water spray jets make sure you don't need to crap again for at least the rest of that day. So you get used to it, especially once you figure out which buttons control the pressure level!

    (Oh, and the female 'front shower' is the reason Japanese chicks spend so much time in the bathroom, and why they always look so satisfied afterwards...)

  6. If you have time... by smackdotcom · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...to watch a television program in the bathroom while doing your business, I might recommend a bit more fibre in your diet.

    --

    In a world without walls, there is no need for Windows.

  7. Finally! by Voltageaav · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can take a shower without having to stop playing EVE.

    --
    Someone save me from this sanity.
  8. Sanctuary Defiled... by jimsoul · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...or at least more than usual.

    Not to be pessimistic about the technology on display, but does anybody really crave this? At my workplace I'm lucky if you manage to squeeze in (or out?) the time to use the facilities in peace, let alone being able to carry on working while present.

    I think it would be about time to sit down and seriously assess your throughput (haw) if you'd reached the point where you could honestly say you need that kind of information present while attending the throne. I see the bathroom as the last calm and sensible place in my home, possibly to the point of insulating the walls so the mere presence of wifi can't exist in such a sacred space.

    After a 60 hour week with a myriad of after hours calls, notifications exploding into inboxes and pagers like hand grenades, and the proverbial generally hitting the fan (or the terminal in this case), I'd soon choose to walk a few blocks to a public loo than step into a wired bathroom. You never know what you might be walking into.

  9. Re:Have you ever tried one of those Japanese toile by Elad+Alon · · Score: 3, Funny

    We don't have much water here in Israel. If someone imports enough of those "front showers", in one month, we'll all die of thirst.

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  10. office by in_fla · · Score: 2, Funny

    Was "head office" intentional?

  11. The Stupid Rich by hattig · · Score: 5, Funny
    Melanie Brandman has been victim of two BlackBerry soakings -- but says hers has never fallen into the toilet. Once, in the bathroom of a hotel in Turkey, she put her handbag in one sink while running water in a second one. She accidentally tripped the first sink's automatic sensor and flooded the bag with water


    How do these people get to be company presidents?

    Do they think 'where's a good place for my bag ... hmm, the floor - no, too low. ah, by the sink! No! INSIDE A SINK!'

    All I can hope for is that these people will work themselves to death early on in life, and have no children.
  12. always at work by rpillala · · Score: 4, Informative

    I cringe whenever I see ads for technology to take your workplace anywhere. With _______ you can be at your desk wherever you go!

    That just means you're always at work. I'm sure executives want to be able to reach employees at all times, but there's some value in being unreachable when you're not on the clock. Yes, for certain applications it's important for certain mission critical people to be always there, but I don't think most business is like that.

    Read The Electronic Sweatshop by Barbara Garson. It's a very quick read and eye-opening.
    --
    When the axe came to the forest, the trees said, "Look out - the handle was once one of us."
  13. Re:Have you ever tried one of those Japanese toile by Fear+the+Clam · · Score: 2, Funny

    Perhaps, but maybe if enough of them were imported to the region everyone would be a bit more relaxed.

  14. This isn't about socialism..... by postbigbang · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is about embarrassment.

    I agree that it's anyone's right to spend money in whatever way that makes them feel like royalty.

    And it's also my right to point out that spending $200K on a bathroom is plainly ludicrous and without merit. It reminds me of other noveau riche, grandiose stupidities.

    No, I'm not in academia. I just have sensitivities towards irrational excess.

    --
    ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
  15. Re:Have you ever tried one of those Japanese toile by WindBourne · · Score: 2, Funny

    Not really. The guys will not get laid. Then, you will have some REAL problems.

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  16. Nothing new here by K8Fan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Nothing new here. My Dad was a policeman in Kansas City Missouri in the 1970s. During morning drivetime, he'd do traffic reports for WDAF - from our bathroom. He'd listen to a police scanner for cops reporting accidents or stuck in traffic. Hundreds of policemen everywhere all over the metropolitan area were a lot more effective than one lone traffic reporter in a helicopter or airplane. He'd jot down what he'd heard and extemporize a report via phone every 15 minutes. And at the same time he'd be doing his morning routine of bathing, shaving, etc. He'd do the afternoon drivetime as well, from anyplace where he could plug in his scanner and get a phone (this was pre-cell-phone). He did this for years, and was considered the most effective and reliable traffic reporter in the market.

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  17. TV in the Shower by rssrss · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now you can watch p0rn and clean-up in real time.

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