Microsoft develops

Microsoft develops 'iLoo' portable toilet with wireless Internet access

AFX News Limited - May 6, 2003

SEATTLE, May 06, 2003 (AFX-Asia via COMTEX) -- Microsoft Corp said it has developed a portable toilet with state-of-the-art wireless Internet access system.

"This is not a joke," Microsoft spokesman, Brian Peterson said of the high-tech firm's plans to replace the traditional newspaper as reading material in the "small room" with wireless Internet access.

The new innovation developed by Microsoft's MSN division and dubbed the iLoo, has an extensible, height-adjustable plasma screen, wireless keyboard and six channel surround sound speaker system.

The seated user can send and receive e-mails, shop on the Internet or even download music in his or her down time.

Those standing in line for the facility will be able to make use of an external "Hotmail station with a waterproof keyboard and plasma screen that will let them surf the Internet while waiting."

"It'll give them a chance to do something useful while they queue up," Peterson said.

Tracy Blacher, Marketing Manager at MSN said the firm is still exploring other means of bringing flashy technology into the bathroom.

"We are looking at vacuum powered options and the very latest broadband enabled technology to ensure the best loo-surfing experience," she said in a statement.

To complement its latest gambit, MSN is also in talks with toilet paper manufacturers to produce special paper with Web addresses that will be inspirational for surfers, according to UK-based Blacher.

The toilet reading of newspapers and magazines could become obsolete if the digital minded public buys this concept, she said.

"The internet's so much a part of everyday life now that surfing on the loo was the next natural step ... It's exciting to think that the smallest room can now be the gateway to the massive virtual world," she said.

The iLoo will be mobile and is part of MSN9s mission to allow instant logging on "anytime and any place." It will first become available in Britain for the summer festival season later this year.

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