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The Type-A, High-Tech Bathroom

Posted by Zonk on from the he's-in-a-meeting dept.

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." '"

6 of 132 comments (clear)

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

    to the phrase core dump.

    --
    I used to have a better sig but it broke.
  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?

  4. 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...)

  5. 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.