Bathroom

The bathroom scale evolves with wireless and Twitter integration

By Paul Lester

16:05 November 12, 2009 PST

Bathroom scales are one of the more unlikely beneficiaries of the technology revolution and you’ll now find all manner of weird and wacky additions to standard weight readouts – check out Omron’s space-aged number that houses a built-in pedometer for example. Withings has now stepped things up a notch by producing the world’s first WiFi enabled body scale, capable of uploading your vital statistics to a secure webpage or iPhone. Read More

Drink No More: stop your pets from drinking toilet water

By Jude Garvey

19:55 October 19, 2009 PDT

Household pets like to drink water from the toilet because it is cool and readily available. However, it's also full of bacteria and toilet cleaner residue, both of which can make your pet ill. And you don’t really want them near your face when you know where their head has just been! Drink No More is an alarm that is on alert when the toilet lid is up and sounds warning beeps when a pet or person approaches the bowl. Read More

New touch-free faucets use capacitive sensors to boost reliability

By Anne Hanrahan

02:05 April 24, 2009 PDT

Automatic faucets are a good idea, they're convenient, hygienic and big water savers, but many of us who've encountered these "smart taps" in public washrooms would be familiar with the inordinate amount of hand-waving that's sometimes required to actually make them work. Fontaine believes it has the answer with its new line of Sensa Field automatic faucets. Rather than relying on motion activated Infrared sensors which have a tendency to cut out mid-rinse, these taps utilize a capacitive omni-directional sensing zone around the spout which the company says guarantees activation the first time. Read More

High-tech tap sets temperature using facial recognition

By Noel McKeegan

06:38 April 22, 2009 PDT

Once a new technology hits the deck we are constantly surprised by the different scenarios in which it gets applied, so I guess that means we should have seen this one coming. iHouse has unveiled a new concept product which brings facial recognition into the home bathroom. Dubbed the SmartFaucet, this indulgent piece of plumbing recognizes you when you stand in front of it and delivers water flow and temperature to suit your individual tastes, all while checking your email on the inbuilt touch-screen. Read More

The Breezy Seat fan-forced toilet odour filter: no more courtesy flushes

By Loz Blain

23:14 March 24, 2009 PDT

They say necessity is the mother of all invention - so we're going to steer clear of the Tennessee inventor of the Breezy Seat. It's a battery-powered, fan forced toilet seat that turns on when you sit on it, sucking smelly air out of the bowl and sending it through odor-absorbing filters and "nano-modules" before it escapes to stink up the rest of the house. Far more effective than air freshener sprays that merely paint over the turdy waft with a thin veneer of "mountain air," the Breezy Seat kills the odors right where they begin. And let's face it, in a modern world, you really shouldn't have to be holding your breath as you walk past the bathroom after your brother's been through. Read More

Boon's Flo faucet cover offers safety and fun at bathtime

By Jude Garvey

15:47 January 28, 2008 PST

January 29, 2008 The design team from Boon Inc. has developed a multi-functional faucet cover which meets a number of bath time needs: it may help prevent injury, has a cascading waterfall that tots will love and delivers bubbles at the touch of a button. Read More

Wee Target zeros-in on toilet training

By Jude Garvey

17:00 January 2, 2008 PST

January 3, 2007 Desperate parents resort to any number of incentives to encourage their kid to “use the potty”- special underpants, reward charts and for parents of boys, even floating toys in the toilet bowl for target practice! Inventor Joanna Haymes, a mother of three boys, took the latter idea further and developed the “Wee Target”. Inspired by heat sensitive ink on a packet of batteries and driven to help her boys aim in the right direction, she designed a “target”- a black circle made of heat sensitive ink which is fixed temporarily inside the toilet bowl. When the target is hit by urine, the circle fades and a surprise picture appears. Read More

Kids rock on with their toothbrush out

By Emily Clark

16:29 November 22, 2007 PST

November 23, 2007 Getting kids to brush their teeth is no easy task, which is why Tiger Electronics has introduced a little fun to oral care with Toothtunes - a collection of musical toothbrushes that transmit music from the bristles, through the teeth into the inner ear. Songs last for two minutes, the amount of time generally recommended by dentists for a thorough clean. Read More

Steamless Infrared sauna

By Shaun McKeegan

03:56 August 22, 2007 PDT

August 22, 2007 Infrared saunas that use radiant energy to heat the body directly are gaining attention in the international market. These products are seen as a more beneficial and therapeutic sauna experience, use far less power, operate at significantly lower temperatures and according to promoters, they are far more effective at releasing dangerous toxins from the human body... and importantly with recent models like the Sahara from Di Vapor, you can also listen to your MP3s. Read More

The Tanita Ironman BC554 - bathroom scales on steroids

By Loz Blain

June 4, 2007 Weighing yourself every morning only tells you a small part of your overall health and fitness picture. Is the extra weight you've gained in the last week muscle or fat? This innovative set of bathroom scales tells you your weight, body fat percentage, body water percentage, muscle mass, bone mass, basal metabolic rate and a bunch of other metrics to help you fine-tune your fitness training and better understand your body's composition. Read More

Waterless urinal making a splash

By Loz Blain

May 17, 2007 It's not our favourite subject, but it has the potential of saving the average office building around 2.3 million litres of water each year. Caroma's H2Zero Cube Urinal is completely waterless, featuring an air-tight seal and deodorising cartridge to keep bathrooms smelling fresh without squandering water. Read More