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Bill Gates Wants To Reinvent the Toilet

Posted by Soulskill on from the flush-with-ideas dept.

redletterdave writes "Bill Gates, the man responsible for bringing software to the masses with Microsoft and Windows, has plans to reinvent and popularize another industry: Sanitation. Gates, whose philanthropic efforts have helped bring clean water and resources to developing countries via the foundation created by he and his wife Melinda, said at the 'Reinvent The Toilet Fair' in Seattle on Wednesday that he plans to build a toilet that's better suited to developing countries in an effort to cut down on disease and death in those regions. 'Inventing new toilets is one of the most important things we can do to reduce child deaths and disease and improve people's lives,' Gates said. 'It is also something that can help wealthier countries conserve fresh water for other important purposes besides flushing.'" Science Insider has some information on the winning designs from this year.

20 of 338 comments (clear)

  1. Reason: by Niris · · Score: 5, Funny

    So we have something new for Windows 8 to go down.

    1. Re:Reason: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think they're taking the "do epic shit" motto to new levels.

  2. Well why not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    he's spent all these years making crap.

    1. Re:Well why not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Why not? BFOD.

      (Brown Flush of Death).

  3. Great... by juanfgs · · Score: 5, Funny

    plans to build a toilet that's better suited to developing countries

    toilet starter edition...

    1. Re:Great... by GameboyRMH · · Score: 4, Funny

      You can only drop 3 logs at a time.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  4. iPoop by InvisibleClergy · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm just going to wait for Apple's competing product. The toilet is a perfect example of an Apple product. It has one button, one function, and it needs to be clean and durable.

    1. Re:iPoop by wild_quinine · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm just going to wait for Apple's competing product. The toilet is a perfect example of an Apple product. It has one button, one function, and it needs to be clean and durable.

      And incredibly it will be the first toilet ever to have a seat with smooth, rounded edges. Not like all those barbed wire versions the rest of us have been using for 20 years.

    2. Re:iPoop by idontgno · · Score: 3, Funny

      And then, there'll be the inevitable design flaw that crops up once the iCrapper becomes the market darling. And the cover-up of the design flaw. And the extensive silencing of forum discussion of the design flaw. And the "You're sitting on it wrong" email. Then the threatened lawsuits, and the announcement of free toilet seat covers to help remedy the problem.

      --
      Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
  5. Pass by zill · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm sick and tired of all these Windows 8 ads on slashdot.

  6. Better design for Europe by Sepodati · · Score: 5, Funny

    Can you please design one that doesn't leave shit streaked all the way down the back when you take a dump? I thought a toilet was a toilet, until I saw all the kinds they have in Europe. You have to scrub every one of them down after a dump. The worst was one that had a flat shelf to dump on and the water would wash it off. Yeah, good luck getting that loaf to wash away. What the hell? Sorry for the shitty post, but this is the topic we were presented with.

    1. Re:Better design for Europe by crazyjj · · Score: 4, Funny

      I think the toilet superiority scale goes something like this:

      Japan > U.S. (pre low-flow) > U.S. (post low-flow) > Europe > Third world

      --
      What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
    2. Re:Better design for Europe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Japanese toilets send it straight to a vending machine :)

    3. Re:Better design for Europe by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 4, Funny

      Maybe so, but if I was confronted with this, I would be quite baffled. I mean, 38 buttons on a toilet control panel?

      I'm betting a lot of Western visitors find themselves with a big "what the heck do I do now" moment. :-P

      Whatever you do, don't press the button marked "ATR". It's the Automatic Tampon Remover.

      --
      Drill baby drill - on Mars
    4. Re:Better design for Europe by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hahaha, He doesn't know how to use the three seashells!

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  7. Re:Great.... by Idbar · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well, on the bright side, it's not Apple. I don't know if I could handle a slippery shinny device with fingerprints all over.

    Let me clarify, not fingerprints but buttprints. But you have a point, I hope its well protected from overflow attacks.

  8. Re:Great.... by AragornSonOfArathorn · · Score: 3, Funny

    can't wait to see for the BSOD on that.

    Would that be the Brown Screen of Death?

    Brown Spray of Death.

    --
    sudo eat my shorts
  9. Re:Good for him by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    This beats the crap out of anything Steve Jobs ever did for the third world.

    Not so. Jobs did a lot to help the overpopulation problem in Foxcon factories...

  10. The reason? by mooingyak · · Score: 3, Funny

    Because he's not happy with the way shit's going.

    --
    William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
  11. Re:"Green" toilets sometimes have problems... by crazyjj · · Score: 4, Funny

    They can always have another go.

    So, go number 2?

    --
    What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?