Soapless washing machine makes foes of old friends - [News]

INNOVATIONS - Few technology makers and content suppliers have had as wrinkle-free a relationship as purveyors of washing machines and detergent. Alas, that may be at an end. Japanese detergent-makers have been slinging mud, literally, at a machine Sanyo Electric Co., Osaka, Japan, introduced last June. The washer, the ASW-ZR, which costs about US $1000, can clean clothes using just plain water; no detergent is necessary.