Let’s face it, the public bathroom is generally a place that, if at all possible, would be avoided. Even the most luxurious of establishments have something to be desired in the restroom accommodations. However, with all of the technologies in place that have allowed for an almost touchless bathroom experience, the experience is a little better.

While strolling around the mall today, I was faced with the task of using the public restrooms. There was nothing touchless or clean about the experience. However, the hand drying process did make enduring the filth worth it. In the world of hand drying there has always been two options, paper towels or the air dryer. Air dryers are much better for the environment, but always used to take too much time to get your hands completely dry. That is until the XLerator swept into every bar and restaurant in town. This thing will dry your hands in seconds flat and throw you across the room at an amazing force. This thing is the king right?

Well not anymore… I discovered this little gem today, and it is the most interesting piece of bathroom technology I have seen since the XLerator. Dyson is well known as the Ferrari of vacuum cleaners and has begun their push into the competitive hand dryer market. (sarcasm is pretty thick here) The design is very out of the ordinary, but the result is very cool. The placard on the wall advertises that the dryer will get your hands completely dry in 12 seconds. They were not lying. When you place your hands into the machine, a razor sharp concentrated burst of warm air hits you and after a few passes back and forth, your hands are as dry as when you entered. It really can’t be explained without a first-hand experience. (no pun intended)

Thank you Dyson for providing one more product that makes the mostly horrid experience a bit more bearable.

So the new iPhone came out yesterday and there are a million people that are blogging about what they think about the design and functionality. I sat just like most of the world looking at the live blogging of Engadgetand was really impressed with what I saw. My biggest concern throughout the whole keynote was the price. Sure it has amazing functionality, but it is worth switching carriers and forking over a large sum? Well, that was all put to rest when the smart-phone competitive prices were released. Even though I have to wait until October until my current contract with Verizon is up, I think an iPhone is in my immediate future. I won’t bore you with all of the specs and features. You can look at them here.

I caught this in the NYT Advertising section today. Since commercials have become a miserable interruption to most, there has a been a push toward live marketing. Why sit through commercials when you can use TIVO or other DVR devices to fast-forward through them and get back to your show. Honda and the ultra-talented Wieden and Kennedy produced a live marketing comemrcial where two planes worth of skydivers spelled out H-O-N-D-A before they pulled their shoots. Read the story here. Very cool idea indeed.

It is nearing the end of the week and I am not sure how much work ethic I have left over for tomorrow. This could prove to be a problem since there are eight more hours that I am responsible for in order to make my employer happy. Bring on the distractions…

I have become quite the fan of Twitter. It is totally unclear as to how this happened. At first glance, there is little appeal in seeing what some people that I know in real life and people I know on the interwebs are doing at any given moment of the day. But, it is the most addicting thing I have ever seen. I find myself reporting on my doings and taking in the doings of others conveniently packaged in 140 character messages.

I stumbled upon My Tiny Jesus, a great time waster and a brilliant candidate for a desktop widget a few minutes ago and think it will take my Twitter addiction to the next level. In a nutshell, it takes random Twitter posts and presents them in a line of dialog bubbles coming from a tiny Jesus. If anyone out there knows how to make dashboard widgets and has time, I would mark this as a winner.

Happy last day of the week…

This picture is from a biking accident in Mexico where the driver apparently was drunk and asleep. Due to nothing more than a miracle, only one person was killed. As if we bikers don’t have enough to deal with… Full article here.