DailyDirt: Spare A Square..?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Fri, Jul 29th 2011 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Toilet humor might be funny to a wide audience, but to some folks, toilets are not a laughing matter -- it's business. Here are a few projects that are attempting to improve toilet technology.

Some MIT business students are headed to Nairobi to start a toilet business. The pitch goes something like: "Everyone poops -- if we can just capture a fraction of that market..." [url]
A pocket urinal for guys (which is basically a packet of diaper material) sounds like a great novelty gift. But there's probably an available surplus of NASA astronaut diapers now... why not wear some of those instead? [url]
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is spending $3 million to re-invent the toilet. Hmm. One team for this challenge is going to develop microwave technology to transform human waste into electricity. [url]
To find more interesting stuff on entrepreneurship, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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Filed Under: diapers, toilets, urinals
Companies: gates foundation, nasa

4 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 29 Jul 2011 @ 7:04pm

This article certainly takes the piss.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Jul 2011 @ 7:36pm

"The pitch goes something like: "Everyone poops -- if we can just capture a fraction of that market..." "

What a load of crap!!
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Rob, 30 Jul 2011 @ 10:50pm

Toilets
I had the good fortune of attending a party back in the late 70's in honor of Buckminster Fuller. At one point it was just the two of us sitting at the kitchen table. For half an hour all we talked about was toilets. He said if you could figure out a way to get rid of human waste without water, you'd be a hero.

I thought the Chinese did a pretty good job by turning communal waste in Methane gas to cook with, and compost the rest!
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- Pixelation, 31 Jul 2011 @ 12:20am
  
  Re: Toilets
  "He said if you could figure out a way to get rid of human waste without water, you'd be a hero. "
  
  Do like the chimps and fling it. Become a hero.
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