I rarely just quote things. But this time, there is really nothing to add to this item from the Guardian’s Informer newsletter…

“It’s not a joke,” a Microsoft spokesperson assured AFP. But it certainly sounds like one. According to Voila.fr [link in French], the software giant is launching the I-Loo – a portable toilet with an adjustable plasma screen, a wireless keyboard and an internet connection. It will, the site says, consign the piles of newspapers traditionally found in the corners of bathrooms to the bin.

“The internet is so much a part of everyday life that offering people the chance to surf in toilets is a natural step,” a marketing director told AFP. “It’s fascinating to think that the smallest room could be an way in to the enormous virtual world.”

Outdoor summer festivals such as Glastonbury will probably be the testing grounds for the invention. Whether the queues outside the notoriously smelly Portaloos will grow any longer remains to be seen.