Slashdot Mirror
This is IT?
Dave (picked at random) and 8000 other slashdot readers wrote in to tell us that they too had been overcome by the relentless hype machine that is IT, Ginger, Segway, whatever. Read about IT in your favorite hype-dispensing media outlet, each of which thinks that it has an exclusive on the story of IT. Flash diagram of IT. Time. NY Times. Reuters. And don't forget to watch the advertisement, errr, "demonstration" of IT on Good Morning Consumers tomorrow. Update: 12/03 13:37 GMT by T : Segway's webmaster John Grohol points out the segway website as well.
"It's not a war on drugs, it's a war on personal freedom. Keep that in mind at all times." Bill Hicks
Is anyone else sick and tired of 20 year old technology getting slapped together into some cheezy consumer product and being heralded as the cure for cancer? Is a gyrosco-ped supposed to make me go out and spend a ton of money on something that is functionally useless?
Maybe we haven't been telling people what we want loud enough, because they're getting worse at guessing. Come on market researchers, earn your money!
...when you could just add a third wheel to this rehashed Razor Scooter out in front and improve balance *without* $3000 of worthless technology? Sure, it'd look like a motorised tricycle, but it's about as useful as one anyway. It looks like the dot-com "hype-over-substance" marketing tactic has crossed over into transportation too.
The NY Times article seemed just a tad tolerant of the hucksterism going on here. In addition to the cost of the vehicle, throw in maintenance costs, insurance costs, extra insurance for worker's comp payments when your postman goes down on this thing and the 3 mph that he loses when carrying a 50 lb bag of mail on his back because he "doesn't need" a truck and you got yourself a great big worthless fleet of hype machines on your hands. Someone has friends in high places to get the USPS to want to take these contraptions for a test spin.
---Technology will liberate us if it doesn't enslave us first.
i stopped listening to him, oh wait, i never did, he hasnt dont anything amazing (besides marketing hype) for as long as i can remeber. Imac, POS in a pretty case.
The iPac, its the next logical step in mp3 players, wow thats real revolutionary.
It's heavier, cheaper and slower than a bicycle, not to mention 10 times more expensive. Why bother?
This is yet another way for people to remove themselves from nature. Just another reason for people to get fat and lazy and ride a scooter around the shopping mall instead of use the tools god gave them that just so happen to be attached to their legs.
It's trendy, gauranteed to be over priced and basically useless. It steers itself, yeah great ok. Steering was so hard, it's about time someone put an end to all this steering nonsense. I mean actually having to turn the handle bars, god forbid. This is the greatest invention since power steering.
Gimme a break. How long before the sillicon valley yuppie is spotted at Yosemite park in their BMW SUV with a Ginger strapped to the back so they can ride through the park at 12 miles an hour to digest the sites faster so they can talk on their cell phones at the next stop and plug more data into their PDA before they shuffle off to their mobile office (BMW SUV) and cellular fax machine.
I'm sick to death of this crap. To all lazy people, get a mountain bike!!! Go hiking!! Do something with those patheticlly weak limbs attached to your flabby body.
"Remember the last time he said that? He was introducing the iMac." Sure it did. it spured people's imagination didn't it? Well, it wasn't ever any good as a computer, but imacs seemed to work great as a garbage can and fishtank, not to mention the dancing ibrators. You ask me, I think an imac is really only good for catapault ammunition, but what do i know?
What gets me is the price - $3k for an electric scooter! Come on! For the same price you can get something that's a much nicer toy (the Kawasaki Ninja 250R has a retail price of $2,999, gets over 70mpg, does 0-60 in 5.5 seconds, and you won't look like a complete dork while riding one). Can you say 'Sinclair C5' all over again?
"dude, chinaman is not the acceptable term"
-big lewbosky?
The next revolution in locomotion will be when personal transport leaves the ground. I consider any moves until then to be simple stepwise evolution.
I mean, the car was not even the "revolution" (if it was one) that the train was. When you compare Car to Horse drawn cart, You CAN NOT compare horse drawn cart to MODERN car. You have to compare it to the car at the outset.
evolutionary.
Back to the "IT", in it's current state it would need to be faster to appeal more. But if it is faster it gets massively dangerous. So it needs.. computer control? And computer control on other moving objects sending information to eachother? Ouch, that'll take a while.
We'll see where this goes.
Someone made a comment on a robot using this for locomotion. Now that Actually is pretty damned cool.
I really get disapointed when yet another reactionery and empty post from a 14-year-old who cant spell counts as "insightfull" on Slahsdot -- definately stirs my grits.
moves at walking speed
Sigh. Read the article, putz.
Mod this clown down so at least other people reading at level 4 or 5 don't waste their time even reading this (not to mention getting sucked into a reply like poor me). Now, the dude who pointed out the fact that this is totally not for US market was onto something ...
One simple rule for its versus it's
Or, you could read the pretty flash images that says it can support the weight of 3 SUVs. Your rotund ass couldn't be as bad as that.
But alas, bellys as round as yours should forgo ANY mode of assisted transportation. Try travel via Doc. Martin.
I agree. The online reaction to this has disgusted me completely. I read comments on Slashdot these days largely to figure out what stance on issues to avoid, since almost always the majority here speaks in the name of idiocy.
--
if you REALLY believe that "80% of humanity" is over 200lbs you should be aware that a) most people don't even know what "lbs" are and b) there IS a world outside of your trailer park. American twat!
That was classic intercourse!
I can get from place to place at roughly 20 MPH. Therefore, it would be useful in really densely-packed places -- homes and offices in skyscrapers (as opposed to packed but spread-out urban areas like San Jose). It's open, so it would only be useful where it's not likely to rain, snow, or be otherwise environmentally extreme on a regular basis. Strike Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Minneapolis, Boston, DC and Detroit, to name a few.
You will look so stupid riding these, that you'll get even more shit than those idiots who rode razor scooters around back in the .com days.
It's worth $3k, and all I really need to do is kick you off at a stoplight and ride off. Far easier than carjacking; more like stealing a very, very expensive bike. If you have any cargo that you can't easily carry, forget about it.
Yeah. Revolutionary. A thing that makes sense in San Diego, LA, Miama, Dallas and Atlanta, and then only if you want to get, er, Ginger-jacked and contribute to various crack habits on a semiregular basis. Oh, and forget about impressing the ladies -- motorcycles are cool, scooters just call for a beating.
On the other hand, I drive a bright red 2000 Mustang convertible with leather interior and a kick-ass sound system. Yeah, I'm racing to ditch it and pick up one of these suckers.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
Let me get this straight:
.com days.
;)
How many Americans are there?
280 Million.
How many sq miles of land do you have?
3.5 million.
How many sq miles per person?
80.
(rough stats from here) That's a lotta space for you and me. Hence the automobile.
Now, pick a nation that does not reside in Europe or North America, and is not so automobile-centred. That is where this will take off. Places where cars are a luxury item, population is high and land is at a premium. Most of the developing/developed world.
This thing will not be used by anybody in Europe or North America simply because of the uncool factor. You said it yourself :
You will look so stupid riding these, that you'll get even more shit than those idiots who rode razor scooters around back in the
Yes, yes, and guys that drive cars get laid, and guys that don't...don't.
In the Phillipines, cell-phones are used to txt-msg most of the time, rather than talk. Funny how not everything is used the way Americans use it. I mean, gosh, did you know that in parts of the world, people drive on the OTHER side of the road? <gasp!>
For $3000 a person can buy a used car here. I don't know about the rest of the world, but I imagine a used car is a whole lot more than $3000, making this Ginger at least a cost-efficient, people-friendly etc, alternative solution. Just try removing yourself from the suburban shopping mall long enough to see that maybe, "changing the world" doesn't start in the U.S. of A.
OTH, if you wanna look cool in your car, while staying Saudi Arabia's bitch, be my guest.
P.S. Do you have a mustache?
Friction? No.
When a skiier waxes down his skis to REDUCE FRICTION, it has nothing to do with the mass of the skis.
Friction has very little to do with mass and can be changed regardless to mass by changing the coefficient of friction.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
NOBODY IS INTERESTED IN YOUR PATHETIC WHINING!
Anyway, you did get the credit "8000 other slashdot readers"
Get over yourself fur feck's sake.
Pathetic.
Dear Mr. Sims:
The name of the morning news program on which the Segway debuted is Good Morning America, not "Good Morning Consumers." I know that you try to bring a sense of irony with your silly Communist ramblings, but get off your goddamn high horse and write something objective for a change.
If you hate promoting (or, as you call it, "advertising") new products to prospective buyers, then stop publishing stories like this one.
How much did Dean Kamen pay you, Michael? Huh? Sell-out? Patsy? Speak up for yourself!
For more information, click here.
Did you actulaly say "chinamen"?!?! Thanks for the racism, pal.
"People living in crowded urban areas" would have sufficed.
You are absolutely right, I should not have called you a cocksucker because I know many gay people who are ten times the person you are.
As to all your allusions to my sexuality, go ahead, like I give a fuck. I am well and comfortable with my sexuality, whether I'm gay, bi, straight, whatever, and they really don't bother me.
What bothers me is that people like you exist. Obviously you are not the stupid teenager I thought you might be who is going through a stage where he thinks fat people are a joke. You are an adult, and that frightens me more.
It's okay, I'm not the type to poke fun at others, but I digress
Whatever, if I recall correctly you were the one making fun of a 350 lb guy because he's fat, fucking hilarious, if you ask me. Do us all a favor and don't breed anymore.
Tired of sitting at that karma cap? Start a flame war today! See just how low you can go!