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From: Time Magazine (hal@finney.org)
Date: Tue Apr 01 2003 - 17:42:55 MST

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    Eliminating Hassles
    by Gregory Heisler for TIME

    While he has yet to reveal the device to the public, rumors
    are circulating about the latest brainchild of Dean Kamen,
    the iconoclastic inventor of the iBot wheelchair and the
    Segway personal transporter.

    "He's really excited about this one," says my confidential
    source, who represents one of the venture capital firms
    being courted at Kamen's Manchester, NH headquarters, "and
    we hope to be behind him all the way."

    Kamen will only say that the project--codenamed "Basil"--
    is a high-tech human waste disposal system that, in his
    words, "will be to the typical American flush toilet what
    the toilet was to the outhouse." My source believes that
    the device will find its first market among developing
    nations that don't have the plumbing infrastructure of the
    United States, but that he hopes the unique qualities of
    the new system will be appealing enough that even Americans
    will want to change. "Especially today, when building
    codes are mandating low-flow toilets that no one likes,
    a new system like this will allow homeowners some luxury
    without the environmental costs."

    Initial units are now being installed in some high-volume
    sites such as office buildings and a Las Vegas hotel now
    under construction. "We think travelers will become
    accustomed to the benefits of Basil, and will start to
    demand it in their hotels wherever they go." The initial
    $8,000 price tag might cause some resistance to that, but
    Kamen expects that mass production might lower the costs
    to $3,000 or less, making them available to ordinary
    consumers.

    Kamen will demonstrate the device live on a special episode
    of CBS's "Survivor" on Thursday, April 3.



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