Thinking Meat

Microsoft: iLoo Story Microsoft Full of ...

Microsoft now claims that the iLoo story was a hoax, apparently committed by MSN UK with the cooperation of its British and American PR firms. Yeah, right. Something about this doesn't smell right...

Update: No, no, wait a bit, Microsoft says it's real after all! Or was, anyway. Forget it. I'm just glad this didn't come from Apple. Last thing I need is Steve Jobs suggesting it's good enough to lick.

No. I won't do it. Learned my lesson the first time.

Arab News whines that its date industry (not what you might think!) is being hurt by competition from the West, including those ever-so-pernicious Zionist palm growers, and it's all the fault of the WTO. Laurence Simon is not sympathetic.

UN has the munchies

So the cafeteria staff at the UN gets into a dispute with the new contractor, and stages an unscheduled walkout. With no one to staff the canteen, it's locked. By lunchtime, UN employees and their stomachs are grumbling loudly. (Apparently, it's very tough to find food elsewhere in New York City.) A high-ranking UN official orders the cafeteria opened, without staff. At which point, the would-be arbiters of morality, guarantors of civilization, upholders of dignity, and keepers of world peace raided the cafeterias and stripped them bare.

By way of Instapundit, who quips, "Obviously, the problem is that there weren't enough U.S. Marines to maintain order."

Too... many... jokes...

Think Microsoft Bob was silly? Try the Microsoft Bog!

MSN UK is creating what Microsoft calls the world's first Internet outhouse, or iLoo, complete with flat-screen plasma display, wireless keyboard and broadband access. MSN UK spokesman Matthew Whittingham described the portable toilet as the first "WWW.C," referring to the term W.C., or water closet...

From the outside, the iLoo is little different from other portable toilets. But inside, Microsoft serves up accoutrements that might rival some iLoo users' home PC setups. A Windows XP-powered computer resides under the sink with connection to 6-channel surround audio. A flat-screen plasma display swivels out from the side of the cabin, and a waterproof wireless keyboard can be placed on the lap for comfort.

Nothing in the article says that it's a prank, and today is not April 1st, but I just can't believe this is real. Read the whole thing -- it gets more absurd with each paragraph.

Update: Seems like this thing is for real, or at least as real as any "pre-announced" product. Here's the Microsoft press release. And here's a Daily Mirror article with a diagram.