April Fool’s Day is fast approaching, and the blogosphere is already on the hunt for Google’s latest hoax. In the meantime, it’s worth revisiting Google’s most recent gags, including one of its funniest, centering on a product called Google TiSP, a “fully functional, end-to-end system that provides in-home wireless access by connecting your commode-based TiSP wireless router to one of thousands of TiSP Access Nodes via fiber-optic cable strung through your local municipal sewage lines.”
Says the still-available site of the TiSP wireless router: “Installing a typical home TiSP system is a quick, easy and largely sanitary process — provided you follow these step-by-step instructions very, very carefully.”
The directions?
#1 Remove the spindle of fiber-optic cable from your TiSP installation kit.
#2 Attach the sinker to the loose end of the cable, take one safe step backward and drop this weighted end into your toilet.
#3 Grasp both ends of the spindle firmly while a friend or loved one flushes, thus activating the patented GFlush™ system, which sends the weighted cable surfing through the plumbing system to one of the thousands of TiSP Access Nodes.#4 When the GFlush is complete, the spindle will (or at least should) have largely unraveled, exposing a connector at the remaining end. Detach the cable from the spindle, taking care not to allow the cable to slip into the toilet.
#5 Plug the fiber-optic cable into your TiSP wireless router, which has a specially designed counterweight to withstand the centripetal force of flushing.#6 Insert the TiSP installation CD and run the setup utility to install the Google Toolbar (required) and the rest of the TiSP software, which will automatically configure your computer’s network settings.
#7 Within sixty minutes — assuming proper data flow — the other end of your fiber-optic cable should have reached the nearest TiSP Access Node, where our Plumbing Hardware Dispatchers (PHDs) will remove the sinker and plug the line into our global data networking system.#8 Congratulations, you’re online! (Please wash your hands before surfing.)
For more, click here. For a comprehensive list of Google’s past April Fool’s hoaxes, including a prank about an oil tanker data center, a drink designed to optimize users’ intelligence, and Google Book Search Scratch ‘n Sniff, click here.
(HT: Jeff Jarvis and friends)
