Amid Selloff, Gold King Won't Flush His Throne

It has great conveniences, but maybe too many gizmos: New York Times review

(NEWSER) - The New York Times enters the world of toilet reviews today, but this is no ordinary toilet. It's the ultra-luxury Numi from Kohler that costs $6,400 and brings hygienic extravagance to a new level. Shaped like a white rhombus, the Numi is controlled with a touch-screen remote that allows the user to flip on the radio or MP3s, heat the seat, perform an eco-flush, and thoroughly wash oneself with an adjustable water nozzle located inside the bowl. Writer Sam Grobart tested one for a month in his home, and while enamored with its extravagant amenities, he did find a few technological pitfalls such as the Numi's rather slow automatic seat-lifting and lowering and an annoying jingle it played every time it turned on (until he dismantled it). More»

It's at a record high, with no sign of slowing down

(NEWSER) - Gold prices will not set another record high today in the US—but only because the markets are closed for Good Friday. That seems to be the only way to cool off the commodity, which rose nearly $5 an ounce yesterday to close at a record $1,503.20, notes the Wall Street Journal . That beat the record set Wednesday, which beat the record set Tuesday, which ... you get the picture. With investors worried about the dollar, the yen, and the euro, gold has been rising for five straight weeks—a gain of nearly 6% this year. More»

Toto's Washlets win over once disgusted Japanese

(NEWSER) - A toilet company that took a chance on a spray-and-wipe system is flush with success. Some 30 million once-squeamish consumers have scooped up a toilet that delivers a crotch-washing spray for cleanliness. The Washlet by the Toto company is a kind of bidet-toilet combo now found in some 70% of Japanese homes and several others around the world. Consumers were outraged by the first TV ad for the gadget in 1982 when a young Japanese woman stuck out her bottom and rubbed black paint on her hand to demonstrate the problem of using toilet paper to clean up gooey messes. More»

Want to visit a nice public restroom? Try Japan

(NEWSER) - Toilet habits are a taboo subject for most of us, but not for Harvey Molotch. Salon spoke to the sociology professor, who co-edited Toilet: Public Restrooms and the Politics of Sharing, about the bathroom fixture. Highlights:

• We should be using water, not toilet paper, to clean up: It's more eco-friendly, and also offers "more complete cleansing," Molotch says.
• Public restrooms should be unisex: Segregated bathrooms are inefficient, make no sense for LGBT people, and are not as secure as unisex bathrooms would be, he argues.

Poo Log for iPhone serves as interpreter of your bowels

(NEWSER) - At last, a hi-tech way to keep track of No. 2: the Poo Log iPhone app. Recording such critical factors as delivery ("smooth like butter, baby"), size/shape (pebble or liquid), and number of particles, the app is based on best-selling What's Your Poo Telling You? In addition to digesting the data you input and offering medical advice and graphs, the Poo Log offers a quiz on digestive facts, and friendly encouragement ("We now dub you King of the Porcelain Throne"). With apps like these, that pile of bathroom magazines looks positively 20th-century. More»