from the how-IoT-can-NOT-be-a-pain-in-the-backside dept.
It's one of the many new connected bathroom fixtures the company is debuting at CES 2024:
CES is about more than just the gadgets you hold in your hand or sit at the desk to use. It's about the stuff in your bathroom, too, which is why Kohler is using the annual trade show to debut its latest in connected fixtures. The new items include a new shower sprayer, a ventilation fan that helps with humidity after a long shower, and my favorite, the PureWash Bidet Seat with Google and Alexa built-in.
The PureWash Bidet Seat is as standard as any other, but I like that you can talk to it. It's heated, has adjustable temperatures and water pressure, and comes in white or black to match your bathroom style. It also features voice activation via Amazon's Alexa or the Google Assistant. You can use your voice to command the spray pressure and the air dryer—it has a dryer! Ahhh, nice and warm.
[...] Kohler will have other fixtures on display at CES, including the Rista, a 3D-printed sink. I also hope to glimpse the new Anthem+ Smart Showering controls, which offer remote access to lights, water, and sound through the Kohler Konnect app.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 08, @08:04AM (5 children)
That's the CES I know and love.
(Score: 5, Funny) by PiMuNu on Monday January 08, @08:49AM (4 children)
What, you mean full of s--t?
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 08, @11:39AM (3 children)
You shit in the Bidet? Then you are doing it wrong.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 08, @01:30PM (2 children)
My bidet is an add-on, bolts onto the toilet under the seat (thin profile). This one:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/LUXE-Bidet-NEO-120-Self-Cleaning-Nozzle-Non-Electric-Bidet-Attachment-Rear-Wash-White/47906810 [walmart.com]
It was on sale, paid about $25 with shipping. Installed in about 10 minutes, the water supply Tees off the supply to the toilet and it came with the required fittings (YMMV).
No electricity or network connections required.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 09, @02:22AM (1 child)
How do you like it? I've been thinking off and on about trying one. Is the lack of heated water an issue, or something you get used to pretty quickly?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 10, @03:11AM
The toilet in our en-suite bathroom doesn't have a bidet-insert (my better half doesn't like it for reasons she won't elaborate on...). So I rarely use that toilet for #2 anymore--it's worth the walk to the other end of the house to use the bidet in "my" bathroom.
The cold water isn't a problem for me at all, wasn't even a shock the first time.
A roll of TP lasts much longer, just a couple of sheets to dry things off.
It's been a couple of years and no problems with that model yet. It is slightly more difficult to keep the bowl clean, but not a show stopper for me.
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Monday January 08, @11:05AM
Finally, "No shit, Sherlock" makes sense.
(where is my coat...)
(Score: 4, Funny) by cykros on Monday January 08, @11:59AM (3 children)
Voice commands to spray water at your anus?
What engineer was sitting around going "man, I wish Alexa could give me a rimjob?"
(Score: 3, Touché) by Ox0000 on Monday January 08, @02:43PM (2 children)
It was less an "Alexa, give me a rimjob" and more a "Alexa/Hey Google, kiss my ass!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 08, @03:34PM (1 child)
Oh no, is that where Hershey's Kisses come from?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 08, @08:54PM
MWAH! [officialpsds.com]
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Monday January 08, @12:00PM (1 child)
You finally get to literally shit on Alexa and Google too.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday January 08, @05:52PM
Oh, this was the logical progression after Google brought bidets [cnet.com] to their employees butts.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Opportunist on Monday January 08, @12:24PM
I have been waiting for a way to express (yes, I'll pay a buck into the pun jar) what I think about Google and Alexa.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by VLM on Monday January 08, @01:12PM (5 children)
There's this whole ecosystem forming of products for people who live alone.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 08, @01:23PM (1 child)
> ...products for people who live alone.
And also people that don't communicate well with the rest of their family--maybe they are better talking to someone else's computer?
(Score: 3, Funny) by VLM on Tuesday January 09, @06:21PM
Speaking of that, in the old days it was funny to yell "Alexa play never gonna give you up" in someone's window. I for one have been both victim and perpetrator of this heinous act. However, now that Alexa is attached to bidets, we can run up to closed bathroom doors and drunkenly shout "Alexa engage turbo mode"
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday January 08, @05:53PM (2 children)
I'd have thought they'd add in a bluetooth speakerphone for people who wanted to attend their morning standups ... sitting down. Saves time!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 08, @07:13PM
Ahhh, about time to democratize the privy council--now for everyone, not just the King/Queen!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 09, @02:29AM
Multiple times I've been in public men's rooms where guys are holding conversations while going to the bathroom. One guy was standing there at the urinal, actively peeing, and carrying on a conversation. I more often hear people talking on the phone while sitting in the stalls than I do see them at the urinals.
That's just . . . disturbing.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday January 08, @01:45PM (1 child)
Ask Alexa to operate your bidet?! I find it creepy that Big Tech would be recording the use of this bidet. For our own good, of course!
(Score: 2) by owl on Monday January 08, @10:48PM
It is so big brother can monitor your usage and recommend you might need to make an appt. with your doctor.
Or so they can monitor your usage so that they can profit by both auto-ordering replacement TP for you from their partner TP provider, and so they can sell your bathroom usage data to the TP makers.
(Score: 5, Informative) by DadaDoofy on Monday January 08, @03:28PM (2 children)
Koehler is an evil company. They design each evolution of their toilets to be incompatible with the previous one. We bought three new Koehler toilets when we remodeled our house. We converted them to use Koehler's hands-free flush option when it became available several years later. Koehler's poor execution of that feature caused all of them to fail within a couple years. We tried to convert them back, but had to replace all three because their new design was incompatible with the old. The parts for the old version were no longer available, just a few years after the toilets were originally purchased.
I would not be the least bit surprised if they are still up to the same old tricks. Unless they fired all the people who designed and implemented the hands-free flushing tech, you are quite likely to be disappointed with the tech in this new one.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 08, @03:45PM
In other words, no intersection between profit and service/backwards compatibility. Who would have guessed...
I'm about to replace our kitchen counters/sink/plumbing and will go to our trusty (family owned for three generations) hardware store. At the plumbing service counter I'm going to ask what brand(s) of faucets have the least repairs and most reasonable parts supply availability & cost. That should narrow down the search for new faucets considerably.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by anubi on Tuesday January 09, @02:37AM
Thank You!!!
This was a very timely comment for me. I am doing some remodeling and this will likely save me from a *lot* of frustration and anger down the road.
https://theappliancecarecompany.com/blog/do-older-appliances-last-longer/ [theappliancecarecompany.com]
I want a plain old design of toilet that works and I expect it to work "forever". I never saw grandpa have to fix the toilet, even though the brass valve controlling it was covered in green corrosion.
I don't have enough time to keep fixing poorly made stuff, not do I have enough money to pay someone else to replace unsupported stuff.
I find something that works and stay with it. That way I have some money left to buy better stuff.
Oh incidentally, I have " Moen" fixtures. The valves last about ten years. All the innards that erode are contained in a cartridge that is easily replaced. House is 60 years old Cartridges still available off the shelf at Home Depot. They also stock the special tool you will need that will pry the old corroded cartridge from the valve body, which is plumbed in place, hard as hell to get to, and will NOT need to be replaced. Beautiful design. I also reinstalled some old 1" brass "globe valves" made by the Ohio Brass Company, in 1936 no less...and found on eBay. I used them for my house water main. These are valves that are normally wide open, but once every few years, I need them to shut completely off. Corrosion and lime deposits form in the valve and won't let it seal. These old ones were made in such a way they can be opened completely up for cleaning without disturbing the plumbing, and it's sole sealing element is just a large flat circular rubber washer of generously wide dimensional tolerance that it can be easily fabricated from things like an old inner tube. One can easily change the stem packing in them as well. I repacked with teflon plumbing tape. Absolutely beautiful design.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by looorg on Monday January 08, @04:08PM (2 children)
Does it come with a built in camera? I'm not even sure I ask that as a joke or not. While ridiculous I'm just not sure anymore if people would see that as a feature they would want or need or not. If not for yourself then for tech support?
(Score: 3, Touché) by krishnoid on Monday January 08, @05:51PM
That model is much more expensive [youtu.be], probably because they need to recoup something like $23E6 in research and development costs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 09, @02:31AM
Come on, man! Please try to keep up [soylentnews.org]!