Portable Media Center knows how to potty

Many technology gadgets end up going down the toilet, but one high-profile device practically started out there. After working nights without sleep to ready a prototype of the Portable Media Center, Microsoft workers left the initial device in a Las Vegas public restroom prior to the CES keynote in which Bill Gates was to unveil it to the world.

Luckily, the workers returned to the restroom to find the device still there. An account of the product's origins, along with its sometimes circuitous route to market, was published Friday by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The article tells how the project was developed by three workers in the Windows CE unit, all working in their spare time. It's worth a read.