kohler

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Did RIM just stage this BlackBerry 10 "leak"?

- Do we need this? Kohler shower head doubles as a wireless speaker.

- Dude builds OSX into old Macintosh Portable, let's talk about RETRO OBSESSION.

- Bionic mannequins spy on shoppers to boost sales.

Bathroom break video: One of the best couples Halloween costumes ever recorded.

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Wired's Chris Kohler posted a very telling gallery of reader-submitted dusty and neglected Wii consoles, games, and controllers on his Game|Life blog.

The photos look more like some sort of modern archaeological exhibit, displaying motion controllers seemingly frozen in time from the last moment they were used.

It's no secret that the Wii has lost plenty of steam since its enormous 2006 launch, with most gamers complaining of gimmicky software and lack of compelling blockbuster third-party titles. It seems Nintendo has even given up on the console, too. At the company's 2011 E3 press conference only … Read more

commentary WASHINGTON--It was inevitable that Google, one of the world's largest technology companies, would find itself in the crosshairs of the Washington antitrust establishment. But what is, or should be, a little surprising is how enthusiastic the establishment became about pulling the trigger.

Take an event I moderated last week in the U.S. Capitol building organized by the free-market group TechFreedom, a nonpartisan think tank.

In theory, members of Congress and their staff carefully craft public policies that encourage the development of new technologies and benefit the entire nation. But the reality of the questions asked was less … Read more

As Dan hustles his way back to the studio, we (somehow) begin with Scott's hands-on of the $6,000 Kohler Numi toilet. Then, the conversation gets weird as we contemplate on what features would be included in our dream toilet that's worth dumping that kind of cash into. Blue jokes aside, we also debate Democrat Jesse Jackson Jr.'s argument to congress, on his belief, that the iPad is killing American jobs. Dan sheds some light on the self-publishing and distribution logistics of releasing an album (if you are so inclined to go indie and bank on those "royalty" checks). Finally, more iPhone 5 rumors explored.

Bonus: You can download the show's theme song as a free MP3 here for a limited time! … Read more

While some technologies, such as smartphones and laptops, change by the month, others evolve at a far more glacial pace. Bathroom tech isn't an area where one expects great strides from year to year, but I couldn't ignore an invite to test Kohler's new Numi toilet. It's not every day I get asked to test-drive a commode.

The Numi is U.S. bathroom furnishing manufacturer Kohler's first big stride into a top-to-bottom high-tech toilet. While Kohler had previously introduced an attachable seat with several functions built in, the Numi is more of a complete toilet overhaul.

High-tech toilets are very popular overseas, particularly in Japan; in fact, I first used a high-tech toilet while on my honeymoon in Tokyo. Toilets with seat warmers and automatically adjusting bidets are strangely luxurious, but many times the toilets that employ them end up looking like astronaut equipment.

Comparatively, the Numi is shockingly minimal. At first glance it looks more like a piece of high-end kitchen equipment. Compact, squared-off, and glowing, it has barely any visible buttons at all on its smooth facade. Instead, the toilet's functions are controlled with a full-color touch-screen device that magnetically docks with a wall-mounted panel. … Read more

The Kohler Karbon Articulating Kitchen Faucet is something like a hybrid between your standard, kitchen, spray nozzle and an elegant, metal faucet spout. It's made out of a series of solid pieces, each connected by an articulating joint. The result is a faucet that can move into any position and then stay put.

Wouldn't ever need such an adjustable faucet, you say? I'm living proof that we dlo: I put a water filter on my faucet that has now … Read more

Just when I thought we had run out of ways to eliminate the need for us to do the dirty work in the kitchen, I stumbled into the completely foreign land of the prep sink. Until seeing the Kohler Crevasse Prep Sink and its cousins, I was under the impression that a kitchen sink is a singular, possibly double-basined place for all rinsing, draining, disposing, and soaking needs, with some allowance for shapes and colors.

Not so, apparently. I should preface the following post by explaining how I currently deal with my food scraps. Living in New York in an … Read more

There must be something in the air--or the water, to be precise. Just as we were wrapping up an item on a waterproof LCD, we got a note from our friends at Electronic House about a speaker that's designed specifically for the shower.

That alone is hardly new, but this one is still worth noting for its unobtrusive design. While most bath-friendly speakers blend into the decor about as seemlessly as an aloha shirt at the cotillion, the "SoundTile," does its best to live up to its name by looking like an intentional part of its surroundings … Read more