2-In-1 iPotty with Activity Seat for iPad

After 4.6 billion years of evolution, DNA's mission is complete. There is nothing left to do but sit around and wait for the heat death of the universe.

(Via This isn't Happiness)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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The Snowden Principle

SomeGuyNamedMark

Best product review ever.
Sean Dailey

How is this different from any other Apple product?
http://www.facebook.com/people/Robert-Holmen/562023961 Robert Holmén

Children were so constipated by their food that they needed entertainment to pass the time while they were trying to excrete.

That is what a future civilization will conclude when they unearth that thing.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  That’s not a particularly uncommon scenario. Have you seen what children eat when left to their own devices?
  - Jonathan Roberts
    
    Worse, I’ve seen what children eat when left to MY devices.
RedShirt77

I thought the relentless expansion of the universe would lead to an unending frozen void? Sort of like the expansion of cable television?
http://twitter.com/leftnotracks Scott Falkner

Saw this a week ago. May I propose a new slogan?

“Boing Boing. Yesterday’s Internet, eventually.”
- http://twitter.com/strugglngwriter strugglngwriter
  
  Oh noes! They made you look at a thing you saw before!
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.
- RedShirt77
  
  There are a thousand sites out there that will reblog this over the next year and then someone else at boing boing will see it and post it again here. Lets be real. The internet is a circle jerk and BBG is a strong leader.
  - Ramone
    
    And yet, here you are, a willing participant.
- skeptacally
  
  a quick glimpse at your profile shows you commenting “Please remember o not feed the trolls” on another site’s comment board.
  
  perhaps you should…
  
  uh… er…
  
  never mind.
- Mark_Frauenfelder
  
  If you really do feel that way about Boing Boing, why are you here?
tyr

Potty training isn’t fun. If this helps to more it more fun for the kid, why not ?
- greenberger
  
  Holy crap, “why not” ? Are you serious? How about “do you really want your child to become so dependent on technology in even the most intimate areas of his/her life?” At least a book is something you can only really read at certain times of your day; the ipad has found a way to ingrain itself in EVERY aspect of your life. Just from a very simple, common sense point of view, do you honestly think having a 3 year old get used to the same extra electronic appendage 24-7, regardless of how great you might think that appendage is, is a healthy thing?
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=692761624 Greg Saunders
    
    I loved your cameo on last night’s 30 Rock.
  - decoy131
    
    How many adults play with their iDevice while sitting on the crapper? This is just preparing them for the real world.
    - greenberger
      
      Yeah, exactly. Thanks for illustrating my point.
  - tyr
    
    I regularly watch cartoons and read storybooks on the iPad Mini with my 3 year old, she also loves taking pictures with it. Your argument is rediculous, it’s not device but how and when you use it. If you use some discretion as a parent it’s no problem. You remind me of this recent SMBC cartoon :
    - greenberger
      
      Spoken like a true tech gadget addict. What I’m advocating is exactly what you just said- using technology with discretion. Discretion means knowing when to plop your kid in front of a computer, and when not to.
      
      Happy to compare 3 year olds in 20 years and see which one has trouble sitting still on a park bench and enjoying the spring day without their cranium-implanted-web-surfing device turned on.
      - tyr
        
        There’s the problem: you focus on the technology, I focus on the activity. The technology we use is secondary, the books we read the games we play, etc. are what matters. And my kid has no problem just enjoying the moment, thank you very much.
    - decoy131
      
      haha! Airborne feces. How apt.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    At least a book is something you can only really read at certain times of your day; the ipad has found a way to ingrain itself in EVERY aspect of your life.
    
    I can read a book in any situation in which I can look at an iPad. Unless you’re referring to listening activities, in which case, I have to tell you that people started walking around with transistor radios glued to their heads almost 60 years ago.
Fef

…In partnership with makers of new antibacterial iPad Wipes…
http://twitter.com/eksith Eksith Rodrigo

If they do make an adult model, good news is that i won’t forget my regular tablet in the toilet anymore.

Bad news… This really is meant for people who can’t wipe themselves.

Seriously, unless you can bleach the bajeezus out of the screen and everything else, I’m never touching that with my bare hands. If not, the iPad goes in a hazmat bag
- http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns
  
  I have a major fear and revulsion of diapers, so this thing just gives me the willies every time I see it.
Michael Polo

ipood

/drops mic
thecleaninglady

Yes, let’s train kids to dissassociate during everything. (Not that I don’t do it.)
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Is there a branch of Buddhism dedicated to defecatory mindfulness?
  - ChuckTV
    
    Is the Church of the SubGenius a branch of Buddhism?
http://glitch.tl/ Michael Smith

Trust me: never let your kids play computer games on the toilet. They will spend half their day in there.
- tyr
  
  Is that a promise ? I could use the break.
garyg2

I fear Idiocracy was out by a few hundred years.
jandrese

This is a bad idea. You don’t want distractions near the potty, potty training is hard enough as it is. Plus, it’s going to be really awkward for the kid to get in and out of that seat.

I suspect this is a joke anyway, but if it’s not, it’s still a bad idea.
Eric Garner

In general I loathe the very idea of this(assuming it’s real). but having watched a relative struggle with potty trainging because their kid just cant relax enough to poop. this might me a great alternative of last resort. I highly doubt that most users of it would be buying it out of that sort of desperation however.
James B

So maybe I’m old fashioned, but I think Emily Post would agree: it isn’t appropriate to use electronic devices in public restrooms. Just call me back, leave a message, ignore my call, whatever. I really don’t mind. You are getting germs on the conversation.

And when you are sitting in a stall, and I’m the only other person in the bathroom, I can’t see that you’re are talking into your phone, and I don’t hear it vibrate in your dropped britches. When you say, “hello”, I assume you are talking to me.

This product looks like it will contribute to a whole new generation of people who don’t know how or when to disconnect, or why you would even want to.
- http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy
  
  “When you say, “hello”, I assume you are talking to me.”
  …and violate a rule?
  
  No. When you say “hello” I assume you are talking to your penis, because if there are no rules the whole world implodes.
  
  Rule 1. Don’t talk
  
  Rule 2. If someone violates Rule 1. Ignore, utterly, completely
  
  Rule 3. Spacing ain’t just a magazine in Canada
  
  Rule 4. Wait over there, way way over there, read something or just stare at a wall or the middle distance
  
  I’m sure there are others but silence and spacing are the meat of it
PhosPhorious

24 comments and not a single “download” joke?

Is there something wrong with Boing Boing, or something wrong with me?
- chgoliz
  
  It can’t be both?
http://profile.yahoo.com/BOV56XV5A5ZYIAPB3PZHMCZBHY steve

Did you see the app that comes with it?
Facebook, youtube integration for grammie to see lil daren’s first poop sans diapers.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=696968610 Cori Frazer-Hopkinson

I can see this being useful for children who use the iPad with assisstive technology and may not have the motor skills to hold the iPad and use the toilet at the same time. That way, they can still tell their caretaker when they are finished or whatever else they need to communicate.

I also have met a little girl with autism who often gets so engrossed with whatever she is doing– often using a smart phone or computer– that she forgets to go to the bathroom and ends up soiling herself. This could be a first step in helping her toilet train.
http://twitter.com/the_mjl mjl

A scat-powered iPad would raise some interesting thermodynamic questions.
http://www.gyrofrog.com/ Gyrofrog

I hope the kid has good aim!
feetleet

Wait, wait, wait… THAT’S the direction I’m supposed to face?

And here I thought I was trained. I’m NOT looking forward to this continuing education class.
- http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns
  
  They call it the Slater
  
  http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=slater
http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy

I just potty trained for the first time (my kid) scratch that we just got the basics down it’s ongoing. Distraction definitely helps, I don’t know if I’d go that far.

But I’d consider it if I had to spend more time earning a living or something by necessity. The first 8-12 poops involved me singing for anywhere from 5-30 minutes ain’t nobody got time for all of that.

Plus I make up most of the songs I sing my kids, so I now have to remember to avoid that particular structure outside of potty-time, just in case.

I’m like a machine myself, sit down, do, done, stand up. Elapsed time can’t be deduced because I think I go a bit back in time each time as I feel younger coming out. But little learners often need to sit there awhile to figure out and relax. Sometimes a long while and they don’t always want to.

I’d fault no one for using that thing.
- chgoliz
  
  Remember: when it comes to parenting, any method you use to teach your child is going to be ingrained, so make sure it isn’t something you’re going to regret in a few years.
  
  A child can sing or talk to him/herself until that trick is no longer needed. What are you going to do when the toddler outgrows this potty but is too young to handle an expensive piece of electronic equipment while simultaneously using the regular toilet? (Which includes the teenage years, btw. Don’t ask.)
  
  As you mentioned, the lengthy musical sessions were for a relatively short period of time (8-12 poops). Then it started to taper off. This potty does not wean the child from crutch-like assistance. It creates a bigger problem than it solves.
  - http://twitter.com/fossilfuels Funk Daddy
    
    Oh we poop in the big potty from the start. Got a simple kiddie pottie for #1 which they love to use, makes em feel all growed up.
    
    Yeah that’s why I would only use it if I weren’t able to spend as much time training them myself. But while I know that putting the kids first and prefer to assume all parents do, I also know some people just can’t, whether because it’s how they are or they must work or whatever. In those cases, the kiddo probably has an ipad/iphone already anyway.
    
    and may poop forever and ever with the device, wondering why at 27 they still have the “Dump Truck” kiddie app on their device.
    - chgoliz
      
      LOL!
mysterymoil

Christ, what an ass-hole!
gargl

it’s the iPlop