OTTAWA
,
Dec. 15
/CNW Telbec/ - It's the middle of the night and she scrambles in the dark to the washroom, hoping not to fully wake. "Splash" He did it again.
Wives, girlfriends, siblings and moms alike ask the age-old question: "How can I get him to put the seat down?" With TipAlert(R), a local entrepreneur believes he has the answer.
One in every seven women claim left up toilet seats are high on their list of pet peeves. In fact, the toilet seat crops up as an issue, at some point, in two out of three families.
TipAlert(R) is an intelligent, plastic encased microelectronic device that attaches to the underside of any toilet seat. The device is hygienic and enclosed in a water resistant casing. When the seat is left in the upright position, the accessory lets you know of the bathroom etiquette faux pas with sound and light. Should the male in the house forget to place the seat down, TipAlert(R):
- Notifies men with a few fun playbacks including a woman's soft
appeal,
- Reminds boys with a friendly greeting and happy tune, and
- Warns women with the flashing LED light every 15 seconds until the
seat is back in its rightful position.
TipAlert(R) was designed by
Al Howard
who originally came up with the idea in 1998 and has spent the past 11 years developing the product. His early research confirmed that the toilet seat issue was not incidental and in fact was a sore point with many couples.
Designed for fun and real functionality, TipAlert(R) aims to fill a unique niche in the women's' specialty gift market. Starting with the product's launch this month in
Ottawa
, Al has aspirations to reach a much larger target market of Canadian and U.S. women between the ages of 19 and 39 - a total population of just over 42 million individuals in
North America
.
Priced to sell at
$9.95
, TipAlert(R) is a novelty item for women, a finishing touch for toddler training or a stocking stuffer for friends available at World Wonders retail outlets across
Canada
and on line from the Baby and Beyond web site www.baby-and-beyond.com
About TipAlert(R) www.tipalert.com
Al Howard
is a high school teacher and inventor in Almonte. Raised on the prairies, Al has worked as a weatherman in the high Arctic, an environmental scientist and a television producer for an aboriginal broadcast network in northern Ontario. At the age of 50 in 2003, he returned to university to become a technology teacher and then a graduate counselling psychologist in 2008. TipAlert(R) grew out of Al's sideline business, Mississippi Media, a sole proprietorship formed in 1995 with a focus on social marketing, event management and television programming which wound down with Al's executive production of Canada's first national aboriginal hockey championship, which aired on APTN in 2002 in association with the Aboriginal Sports Circle. TipAlert is Mississippi Media's first proprietary initiative.
For further information: For further information: Elizabeth Costello, echo marcom services, (613) 818-2430, [email protected]
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