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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.
The southpark version was hilarious
"Well atleast its better than dealing with the airlines"
Please don't insult Linux, this is Slashdot after all!
"It looks gay."
Frankly, I don't see how this is possible. As an 'IT', it is neither male nor female and is thus not capable of homosexual activity.
When I look at the hype surrounding this thing, it reminds me of Transmeta. Transmeta had some of the world's brightest computer geeks working on a s3kr1t pr0j3k+ that would change the world, and it turned out to be yet another x86 clone (whoo hoo.) Now there is another company with bright scientists working on a s3kr1t pr0j3k+ that would change the world, and it turns out to be a motorscooter. (whoo hoo.)
Moral of the story: Don't believe the hype.
Does IT run Linux?
;)
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Mod up a post Rob doesn't like and you'll never mod again
Now that's a scary picture
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Damn it, I was hoping for a child-eating clown
The flash presentation makes an interesting claim on the motors:
"Two of them drive each wheel independently. Fully redundant. If one fails, the other takes over."
I would like to see this.
Also claims to have 5 Gyro's that "operate by commitee, voting among themselves to eliminate errent readings"
Would this device work in Florida?
Electric Scooter $3000 or $600 Bike + $2400 Beer.
IT = 8MPH, Bike = 15MPH
IT = no excersize, Bike = 300+ Cal/hr
IT = No beer, Bike 2400 micro brew or 4800 Bud/MGD
IT = requires power, Bike = burn off beer gut (see above)
-- http://frobnosticate.com
This thing is a hacker's dream. It looks quite modern - microprocessors, firmware, etc. Not purely mechanical. The speed limit is set by the circuitry -- which means it is all hackable.
Imagine programming one of these things to spin you around, then accelerate to breakneck speed (perhaps literally) This could be quite fun!
I had my heart set on it being a twin-turbine personal helicopter :) funny thing is, I had this all worked out to the point where you could damned near build one, all on the basis that Steve Jobs et al wouldn't be fools enough to go ga-ga over a powered scooter.
I'll give 'em this much though: yes, designing cities without cars WILL eventually be necessary. Yes, that will be interesting and challenging and different. But I thought it had to be a lot more exciting, and pulled together loads of detail such as recent developments in titanium production, the capacity of (highly efficient) jet turbines to route their intake and exhaust in very counterintuitive ways, the geometry of a twin-ducted-fan standing platform and how this would be essentially stable and would require hard leaning to get it to move quickly- and even then, wind resistance on the high-mounted fans would mean that the machine would be trying to slow itself at all times, its CG located very low because a human would be standing on the base and their CG would be irrelevant, the orientation of the device would follow the centering effect of the human's weight delivered through the feet...
The only thing even vaguely like this would be the SoloTrek, and just think for a second of how much heavier _that_ monster is than a person- it's really just a mini helicopter, not even the balance issues would apply. As such, so much of its awful power and noise etc. is required simply to lift its own weight, and how much better it would be to use titanium and minimal, balance-oriented controls to make something so feather-light that it's barely heavier than a person, far more capable of urban use...
To top it all off, turbines are ideally suited for just _one_ speed, which is an ideal match for a heli-type device as it would be devoting pretty much every bit of its energy just to hovering, with no engines whatsoever for lateral motion- that would be strictly a matter of leaning in the desired direction like you were in a hang-glider. All this is just _waiting_ to be done, and Kamen has the resources to do it _and_ a background not only in aviation but in helicopters. It seemed so obvious.
Oh well...
You said:
Actually, if the Segway IT were allowed on sidewalks, there would be instant lawsuits, courtesy of conventional injury lawyers. Forget about skateboarders running into old ladies -- IT is gonna be great! "Call 1-800-ITHURTS!" :->
As for weather, here in the Midwest we occasionally use outerware to mitigate the effects of the elements on our epidermis. That comes highly recommended. And your mom told me you should wear a hat, too.
I believe (but haven't seen for myself) that most businesses today are currently wired for "electricity" available at convenient locations we call "outlets". And a space the size of one car-parking spot can probably hold one or maybe up to two of the Segway behemoths.
I really get disappointed when people who are smart in one area
I live in NYC. In the 5 boroughs something like this would be great. Places like Hong Kong, downtown London, Chicago, small cities in Italy, any REAL city where people actually walk around, this would be great.
Places like LA, Phoenix, suburban Long Island where there are no pedestrians anyway would not be suitable for this.
The TIME article said that speeds of 3-4 times walking speed would be normal.
In NYC bike messengers already get around the city faster than cars. I see doctors and 60 year old women go through the Village on those Razor scooters. Parking spaces cost more to rent per month than whole houses do in other parts of the country. I go weeks without driving now and didn't own a car until I moved out of NYC temporarily for a few years. Cars in NYC are evil and most people avoid them. A reliable, speedy machine that takes up about the same space as a person would be very welcome.
As for price, Give it 5 or 10 years and it will be down around a few hundred dollars. In the expensive bike range. Not to mention the used market.
Of course by then GM or Ford will get into the market and we will have SUV Gingers that weigh 10 tons, run on gasoline and have ostrich skin leather heated bucket seats.
IT was already invented by Johnny Hart, author of the comic strip BC. The prior art is plainly visible in the upper right hand corner of this picture, has been available for quite some time, and appears regularly in newspapers and online.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Its almost the 2002! I was promised flying cars. Where are the flying cars?
He also owns an island off the coast of Connecticut. He calls it North Dumpling, and he considers it a sovereign state. It has a flag, a navy, a currency (one bill has the value of pi) and a mutual nonaggression pact with the U.S., signed by Kamen and the first President Bush
I don't care what "IT" is, Kamen owns an island with a monetary denomination of pi!
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It's OK to be social, just don't tell anyone about it.
The article mentions "software which puts Microsoft to shame", so it could be running Linux. Or any of a number of other things.
ok, i kind of feel lazy even pointing this out, but...
The revolutionary aspect of this thing is that yeah it has gyroscopes and all that shtuff, but in reality, it is "walking for the lazy man" and is related to this product. The implecations of this aren't fantastic, and its not gonna change the world, but anything that makes a lazy man's life less mobile is worth.... something..... i dunno, you finish my post for me...
~z
sig?
Can't you see that a vehicle which uses Dynamic Stability to be driven as an extension of your own body movements is a great innovation?
What, you mean like... a bicycle? Or roller skates?
Hell, I drive my car via an extension of my own body movements. I call this miraculous technology "the steering wheel."
News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters? Like hell.
This invetion will go the way of the Sinclair horizontal bike.
It is awkward, expensive, makes you look like a dork, and isn't really more useful than something you already had.
Mind you, I'm never wrong about these things. When the CD-ROM was invented, I accurately predicted we would never hear from such a useless invention again. After all, it was more expensive than the PC you plug it in, and all of that for half a GB of read only data, while no one could have any conceivable use for read only data.
I also accurately predicted that Java would be just a fad. After all, who would need a slow interpreted platform independant language while only one platform would exist a few years on.
this time I'm right tho.
As far as I can see, it's designed to make you fall over when you hit the brakes. Either that or you just go ahead and plough into that old granny at 20mph anyway[1].
Copenhagen airport has push scooters, you see people whizzing up and down the the airport. Very weird.
[1] Grannies are 50 points you know.
Deleted
To quote a German politician (on 9/11): "Today we are all Americans."
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
You missed the best part of the Amazon product page:
Customers who shopped for this item also shopped for these items:
* Playboy (1994) VHS ~ Ginger Lynn Allen
* Girls Gone Crazy DVD
* Invincible, Michael Jackson
* Corporate Cults by Dave Arnott
load "linux",8,1