Doing Laundry Online
New technology from IBM and USA Technologies will allow college students to do laundry without hunting for quarters or sitting around in the laundromat waiting for their clothes to be done. The eSuds system will connect 9,000 washers and dryers at U.S. colleges and universities to the Internet. Students can check a Web site for available machines and add detergent that the machines dispense. When the laundry is done, the machine sends an e-mail notifying the student. Swipe cards are used to pay for the laundry instead of cash, and laundromat owners can use the system to monitor machines and perform limited maintenance. The system might also cut down on vandalism, since cash won’t be collected by the machines.