i-Loo: Text and surf the web while you crap…

i-Loo:  Text and surf the web while you crap…

From the Wiki page ((The iLoo was designed to be a Wi-Fi Internet-enabled portable toilet that would allow users to surf the internet while using the loo.[2] Internally, the facility would have a broadband connection via wireless 802.11b, a wireless waterproof keyboard, a swivel plasma screen running Windows XP Professional, a 6-channel surround-sound system beneath the sink, toilet paper embossed with popular urls, and a suction toilet.[2][3] Externally, the facility would feature an MSN logo and have a "hotmail station" with an additional plasma screen and keyboard for waiting consumers.[3] A security guard was to be stationed near the unit to ensure that it was being properly used and to prevent the unit from being stolen.[3] The iLoo was to debut "at a majority of the summer season festivals".[2] The iLoo was to be deployed only in Britain.[4] ))

I found this little “invention” on Reddit and got a kick out of it. 

Come to find out, it was a real product, if you want to call it that, Microsoft actually designed and built it in the UK.   The best part about this stupid invention was hearing the MS big wigs talk about the product, as if it really was important to the future of the Internet.

How can someone make this statement with a straight face?

A marketing manager from MSN, ((The internet's so much a part of everyday life now that surfing on the loo was the next natural step. People used to reach for a book or mag when they were on the loo but now they’ll be logging on! It’s exciting to think that the smallest room can now be the gateway to the massive virtual world. ))

I know thing came out in 2003, but I think networks on cell phones were powerful enough to do most of the things that MS wanted to do with the i-Loo. I just think I'd focus on the work of getting out of the bathroom as quickly as possible more so than surfing the WWW.  If I need to check something, I’ll use my phone.  Multitasking in the bathroom could make things a little more messier than you would want. 

Oh, the story just keeps getting better too.

From The Age.com ((MSN said it is talking with toilet paper manufacturers about producing paper embossed with popular website addresses. ))

So, that meant that people would eventually wipe their asses with your web addresses. I guess I'm glad my blog wasn't born in 2003. I'm not sure I'd be happy with knowing that fact.

So, what about people destroying the i-Loo?

((The MSN iLoo will make its first appearance at the Glastonbury music festival this European summer. MSN said it will have round-the-clock security to prevent vandalism and theft.  ))

Would you want to be the security guard in charge of the i-Loo?

Besides, putting expensive technology next to a portable toilet just doesn’t seem like a good idea. 

MS discovered the joke the Internet bestowed on the I-Loo, and claimed the whole thing was a hoax.  They then retracted that claim and admitted that they had constructed and invented the item. 

I’m guessing someone else will probably try to make another attempt at it.