ILoo

A 3D diagram of the proposed iLoo showing a blue, cuboid-shaped toilet cubical with a lavatory situated to the right. A computer keyboard and plasma screen are positioned opposite the toilet bowl, and a sink is in the centre. On top of the cubical is a wireless aerial with demonstrative waves emanating from it. Microsoft's MSN branding is in the left-hand corner of the diagram.
The iLoo as depicted by MSN UK and distributed by news providers

The iLoo (short for Internet loo) was a cancelled Microsoft project to develop a Wi-Fi Internet-enabled portable toilet. The iLoo, which was to debut at British summer festivals, was described as being a portable toilet with wireless broadband Internet, an adjustable plasma screen, a membrane wireless keyboard, a six-channel speaker system, and toilet paper embossed with popular web site addresses. The iLoo was also to have an extra screen and keyboard on the outside, and was to be guarded. It was intended as the next in a series of successful initiatives by MSN UK which sought to introduce the internet in unusual locations, including MSN Street, MSN Park Bench and MSN Deckchair.

The project was announced by MSN UK on April 30, 2003, and was widely ridiculed before being declared a hoax by Microsoft on May 12. On May 13, another Microsoft press release stated that although the project had not been a hoax, it had been cancelled because it would do little to promote the MSN brand. There has since been speculation as to whether the project was cancelled for fear of being sued by Andrew Cubitt, who had invented the similarly named product "i-Loo". The iLoo was described as a public relations "debacle" by Online Journalism Review.[1]

Comparable to the iLoo, the Chaos Computer Club's so-called "Datenklo" (German, in English "data loo") uses mobile toilet stalls as network distribution centers at Chaos Communication Camps. However, the use as a toilet is not intended.

Tents and a "Datenklo" (German, in English "data loo") at the Chaos Communication Camp, Finowfurt 2007
  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference ojr was invoked but never defined (see the help page).