You're Not In The Toilet, Are You?

Thanks to a new toilet, when next you read an email, respond to a blog entry or chat in a virtual world... the other person just might be in the toilet. This certainly puts a new twist on who you're talking to - and when:

Think you deserve a throne? A U.S. plumbing firm has created a luxury toilet equipped with laptop computer and flat-screen TV which it plans to give away in an online sweepstake.

Ohio-based Roto-Rooter says its "Pimped Out John" is designed to "fulfill all your wildest bathroom dreams." Special features include an iPod music player and speakers, an Xbox video game console, a refrigerator filled with drinks and snacks and a cycling exercise machine.

"The bathroom is the perfect place for your very own throne. It shouldn't always be regarded as the room of last resort," said Steven Pollyea, Roto-Rooter vice president of marketing, in a press release emailed to Reuters.

Yes, if you are in the United States you can get the Ultimate Seat of Power. Exercise, listen to music, drink a cold beer and surf the internet while playing on the Xbox. A whole new era of computing is here.

How this will affect social networking is anyone's guess. Maybe toilet-based guilds will become emergent. Maybe sub-clans wielding different types of toilet paper will have websites. The implications are staggering... This promises to be a really interesting thing for the social networking pundits to write about. Will there be a sequel to Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution called 'Pooping Mobs'? The implications of such technology are staggering.

And what about open source hackers on the throne? How will this affect code? Linus Torvalds was not contacted, and therefore had no comment. Richard Stallman was also not contacted, and therefore had no comment - but there are rumors of issues with the toilet and GPL v3. The support of DRM in the toilet is an emergent issue - and many people who were not contacted did not say that they would want a Linux distribution in their toilet. If there is one place that one needs dependability, though...

Implications for renewing the plumbing industry with the integration of ICT and refrigeration may be what is needed to revitalize the industry.

When avatars in SecondLife or World of Warcraft start making those funny faces, you might want to stand back.

Yes, I am poking fun at people. Now pass the toilet paper.