Welcome to the home of Noah Brier. I'm the co-founder of Variance and general internet tinkerer. Most of my writing these days is happening over at Why is this interesting?, a daily email full of interesting stuff. This site has been around since 2004. Feel free to get in touch. Good places to get started are my Framework of the Day posts or my favorite books and podcasts. Get in touch.

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Japan’s hi-tech toilets

The Telegraph has an awesome profile/history of the Japanese hi-tech toilet phenomena. It includes the history of their rise to prominence (including some info about early advertising), the competition between Toto and Inax and a bit about why the toilet’s have never made a splash (sorry) in the US.

Interesting fact from the article (which I quickly added to Holy Crap! Facts): “According to census figures, there are more Japanese households with Washlets than there are with computers.”

August 31, 2008