October 15, 2004
A portal for the loo, Gates gets his due
Readers hot under the collar
Recommend ThisLooking at the steam coming off the mail in my inbox this week, I definitely need a place to lay low for a while. One reader kindly recommended Geek Cruises, where I could work on my tan and my Perl programming skills at the same time. He also thought it would help my love life but I'm not so sure. The brochures are full of guys with goatees and laptops -- not exactly my idea of The Love Boat.
Potty Favors: A New Jersey company claims to have trademarked the universal restroom symbol for use in a new search portal called RestroomsOnline.com. (Their motto? "Sooner or later, everyone goes.") A press release claims the site will feature paid links to travel, sports, news, stocks, and other sites. I figured this had to be a joke, but according to Vito Collucci, founder and CEO of RROL, it's a real but "humoristic approach" to search. He says he's still "ascertaining financing" but hopes to launch next spring. In the meantime, the site, restroomsonline.com, features a Flash preview that's cheesier than a quattro formaggio calzone. Hey, most dot-coms eventually end up in the toilet; why not just start out there?
Pearly Gates: Reader Alan T. takes exception to recent items published in this space that make Bill Gates sound like the second coming of Scrooge McDuck. And you know what? He's right. According to Forbes magazine, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has funneled some $28 billion to worthy causes, or about 10 times the combined donations of well-fixed folks such as Larry Ellison, Paul Allen, and Michael Dell. Maybe His Billness deserves that knighthood after all.
Nobody Nose the Trouble I've Seen: A few readers did not appreciate my item on the Nouse, a Webcam-based dingus that could allow users to control PCs using nose or eye movements. I think enabling technologies are great, but that one seemed a bit over the top. Still, if my humor offended, I apologize. I never intended to thumb my nose at the disabled.
Got hot tips or snotty suggestions? Send them to cringe@infoworld.com and you could collect a swanky bike messenger bag.
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