Gizmodo: toilet seats

Blooming Bidet, Because You Deserve a Remote-Control Toilet

Wilson Rothman — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:10:00 EDT

We know all the toilets in Japan that have built-in bidets, but how many come with remotes? With Blooming Bidet, you activate all the functions of the toilet, even adjust the intensity of water spray or hot air aimed at your posterior, from the handset. Note the big STOP button, in case things get out of hand. And it's no accident you don't see any FLUSH button—flushing happens automatically. (The downside there is that you'd have to trick it into a mercy flush.)

Other features include a gentle LED underwater nightlight, a pressure sensor that keeps you from accidentally spraying your eye, built-in controls at your right thigh should your remote's battery die when you're in the moment, and analyzers in the bowl to check your bidness for signs of sickness. [NCM via Koreannovation]

Inax Bidet Toilet Seats Spray Your Butt in Living Color

Charlie White — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 09:15:00 EDT

If you want to look into the future, go to Japan, where it's impossible to market a new toilet seat without a bidet attachment inside (otherwise known as a washlet) that squirts water all over your delicate nether regions. Now you can do away with toilet paper in colorful style with these limited-edition toilet seats by interior design company Inax, the company that figured out how to add an SD card reader to a toilet.

These colorful seats are available in Japan for around $1400, but if you wanted one badly enough, you could probably import one of these thrones, install an electric outlet near your toilet, hook the water pipes up to the seat, and you're good to go. So to speak. While the whole idea of a telescoping, self-cleaning magic wand spraying your ass clean seems gross, it sure beats the equivalent of a spreading peanut butter around on a shag carpet with a piece of toilet tissue. [Tokyo Mango]

Brondell Breeza Anti-Stench Toilet Seat Wafts Those Stinky Sins Away

Charlie White — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 13:30:00 EDT

It's toilet gadget time again, and here's the Brondell Breeza, a deodorizing toilet seat that's available in two different models. The Basic Breeza is battery operated and just keeps that stench down to a manageable level, while the Breeza Warm (pictured above) plugs into the wall and actually has a heated seat (which I can tell you from personal experience is well worth the trouble and expense). Both have that delightful gentle closing seat and lid that can help you at least keep some of those obnoxious bathroom noises to a minimum.

Both models have an automatic quiet fan that draws odors into a replaceable activated carbon filter, and then there's some sort of fragrance that you can place into the works as well. The Breeza battery operated seat can be installed in just 15 minutes according to the company; of course the heated seat's installation might be more complicated if you don't have an outlet nearby. – Charlie White

Product Pages: Breeza Warm and Breeza [Brodell, Inc.]

Kohler C3 Series Toilet Seats Offer Hands-Free Butt-Washing, American Style

Charlie White — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 10:06:00 EST

Who says the Japanese make all the fancy potties? Kohler has jumped into wash-yer-butt bidet derby with its C3 series toilet seats, using a special "hydra-cleansing wand" (pictured at right) to give you a hands-free alternative to toilet paper.

The C3-200 model ($1300, pictured on the toilet above left) has an in-line heater that warms up that water so your ass-cleaning experience will be more soothing than shocking. It even has a remote control to initiate the whole cleaning and drying process. There's also the model C3-100 ($750, pictured above right) that contains a small tank that heats up the cleansing water, and its controls are located on the side of the seat.

Check out the details, plus more pics:

These swank toilet seats let you adjust the temperature and pressure of that cleaning spray, and there's also a cool blue light that helps with that nighttime urinary aiming problem. Also a nice touch is the way these heated seats quietly lower as if riding on a cushion of air.

Both models offer the ability to select front and rear wash, and you can even make the hydra-cleansing wand pulsate that water on those oh-so-sensitive body parts. That could get interesting rather quickly. The higher-end C3-200 also offers a deodorizing fan, and warm air drying with adjustable temperature and fan speed.

This bidet functionality in toilet seats has been popularized by Toto with its $5K+ NeoRest toilet and so-called "washlet" technology, and Toto also offers various luxo-sport toilet seats with those cool washlet features as well. But now you can get an American-made squirting seat. As with all thrones like this, there's slight problem, though: you'll have to wire an electrical outlet nearby for these babies, but that's the price of progress. – Charlie White

Product Page [Kohler Company]

Cellphone Bacteria Warning: Not for the Squeamish

Charlie White — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 16:43:48 EDT

Okay, now that you're done with lunch it's time to gross you out. A UK newspaper reminds us that cellphones are just downright disgusting, and are even dirtier than toilets. That's because they're exposed to much more bodily bacteria than any toilet seat. A combination of being near your mouth with all that spit and stuff, and those cellphone electronics keeping the bacteria warm all day turns that handset into a teeming metropolis of creepy-crawley microbes, including such delectables as Staphylococcus aureus, the bacteria responsible for pimples, boils, pneumonia and meningitis.

Just keep in mind that there are literally billions of bacteria, virii, and other various insects and arachnids crawling all over your body right now. Reminds us of the Penn & Teller Bullshit episode where they took bacterial cultures from people's faces, hands and butts, and guess which was cleaner?

If you guessed butts, you're right, they were cleaner than faces and especially hands, the most bacteria-laden part of the body. Now forget all you just read and go on about your business. Have a nice day. – Charlie White

Wash your hands, caller [The Daily Mail, via personaltechpipeline]

Fresh Out of the Water Closet

Charlie White — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 12:04:53 EST

OK, all you weekenders, get your minds out of the gutter and into the toilet, because here's all the latest potty news. First of all, there's a new toilet seat by Aspidor that uses an induction fan with a charcoal filter to take away that, uh, aroma that finds itself wafting away from the water closet. The thing reacts to body warmth, turning on its little fan when you sit on it. And, you don't even have to plug it in, because it has a rechargeable battery. It's $349.

Speaking of toilet seats, there s reportedly a heated toilet seat craze sweeping the United States. Toilet maker Todo, a Canadian company with factories in Mexico, announced it will open up a new manufacturing facility to keep up with the burgeoning demand for the warmed-up seats, which are enormously popular in Japan. A heated toilet seat, you say? Don't knock it til you ve tried it. Some of your favorite Gizmodo writers use one every day, and that 98.6-degree seat sure makes a cold room seem a lot warmer early on a winter's morning.

And lastly in our potty-mouthed roundup are a couple of toilet-centric toys. Here's where Mr. Poopy and Mr. Pee-pee come out to play in all their plush-toy splendor. Teach the little ones all about toilet training with these two whimsical companions, the Pee & Poo Dolls Duo Pack by Emma Megitt. And, if you accidentally drop one of them into that well-ventilated loo with the heated toilet seat, don't get pissed. It's OK, they're washable. Get the pair for $44, I shit you not.

The Aspidor No Odour WC [Red Ferret]

Heated Toilet Seats [Shiny Shiny]

pee & poo dolls duo pack