washing

If only Circuit City had hung on a little longer, it might have promoted the hell out of this.

The Vatican's official newspaper, Osservatore Romano, has decided to credit a household gadget--the washing machine--with being one of main reasons for female emancipation in the 20th century.

The article enjoyed a headline that positively rippled with gaiety: "The Washing Machine and the Emancipation of Women--Put in the Powder, Close the Lid and Relax."

It suggested that the humble washing machine might have done more to liberate contemporary womanhood than, say, the contraceptive pill, or being able to … Read more

The people in this house seem to wear clothes every single day. Some of them even change their clothes multiple times a day, and my children believe that if you have worn an outfit for even one minute, it is laundry.

Say what you will about my parenting, but there is a lot of laundry to be done in this house. And my husband, who is a software developer and who can hook up complex home theater systems in nanoseconds, professes that the washing machine is "too hard" for him to master.

The Reason washing machine eliminates this … Read more

Twitter is a great personal and social communications platform. But that's not all you can use it for.

I've dug through countless services to find some interesting, loopy, and just plain cool tools that allow you to do more than talk to friends. From receiving tweets when your clothes are clean to tracking packages, Twitter is a great place to solve many of the day's tasks.

PIMPY3WASH OK, so maybe you can't use this and it's only designed for one person, but PIMPY3WASH is the neatest washing machine hack I've seen, so I had … Read more

There are plenty of green washing machines on the market these days: some are constructed to be energy efficient while others reduce the amount of water used. But Indesit has developed a new kind of green washing machine--one that is constructed from recycled materials, reducing the CO2 emissions, cost, and raw materials necessary to build a washing machine. Indesit is making use of the recycled materials in two different washing machines, the Aquarius and Ultima. Both are part of Indesit's Hotpoint line.

The washing machines are built using a high-grade plastic polymer made from shredded plastic waste, which was … Read more

I like front-load washers. They make Laundry Day go faster, without a doubt. But there's a bit of a problem with the average front-load washer. It's pretty easy for a child to get into mischief--opening the door in the middle of a cycle, getting fingers caught in the door, and other situations I wouldn't have to worry about with a top-loading washing machine. Haier has created a family-friendly washing machine, though, that tackles these little problems. The HMW1270KFL Front Load Washing Machine has a child lock, as well as other integrated child-safety features.

Haier has included a … Read more

MTI saves the day on a show where Wilson is MIA in northeastern America. Mark chats us about how a new e-card service will tell the one you've loved that they need to get checked out. Also, we read up on who's being a dick according to dickipedia.org (Jeff), and how the PSP firmware 5.0 was hacked in record time.

A big thanks to Clayton Morris today for supplying us with today's most bizarre story. Of course it deals with automobile-related cleaning equipment and human anatomy, but what else would you expect from the co-host of Fox News' Fox and Friends?

Another huge thanks goes out to 404 long-time listener Jamey from Tennessee. He graced us with his new 404 intro theme that we absolutely love and begin the show with today for the first time.

It's just a good-old fashioned Tuesday on the 404; plenty of laughs to help you get through the day.

Is there anyone in the country whose bedroom doesn't include a pile of delicates waiting to be hand washed?

Apparently not, if Aquatic Industries is to be believed. The company has introduced the Delicair Laundry Basin to provide relief for those of us with a deep aversion to hand-washing.

The Delicair basin looks remarkably similar to a standard utility sink, and its size is about the same. But its walls are lined with built-in air jets that "lift away dirt from the fabric with a gentle and effective bubble action," making quick work of washing your delicates. … Read more

It's not quite the washing-machine robot I've been waiting for, but it will have to do in the meantime. This finalist from the Electrolux Design Lab '08 contest is called the iBasket, a Wi-Fi-connected laundry hamper from the future. Guopeng Liang submitted the winning design.

The idea is to use this as a hamper, throwing your dirty clothes in as they accumulate. The iBasket then senses when the load is full and initiates the wash cycle. Since it is Wi-Fi-enabled, the concept washing machine can even alert you when the load is complete.

Made out of acrylic, recycled … Read more

So you went out and got an HE washer because you love the environment and the energy savings. And you've been feeling pretty good about your choice--using less water and wasting less energy is a good thing, after all.

So where's that funky smell coming from?

Turns out that just like your fancy sports car needs regular oil changes, your high-end, high-efficiency washer needs a little TLC, too. And Whirlpool has come up with the tools to help you: the Affresh washer cleaning kit with Power Puck tablets and Grit Grabber cloths.

The system is fairly simple to … Read more