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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 most important part of this is the "just think about stopping" part, the advanced system that mimics human movement.
While I predict this will be at BEST a fad, we can now finally take the core technology and start building robotic war mecha.
ZOMG I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS ON MACINTOSH VERSUS WINDOWS, VI VERSUS EMACS, AND HOW YOU'RE NOT A DORK
Steve Jobs has seen it and he said it would change the world. Remember the last time he said that? He was introducing the iMac.
Does anybody else remember the South Park in which Mr. Garrison builds a device which goes at 300MPH and 150MPG? He does this because of the piss poor service at airlines. The government bans use of his device because otherwise the sagging airline industry will suffer.
Hey, it could happen.
This thing is probably expensive and weighs a ton. Oooh, it stands up on its own, how have I lived without it! If you want an electric personal transportation device, TH!NK about one of these instead.
I hate to complain, but this seems a little unnecessary doesn't it? My progenitors have spent millions upon millions of years evolving all these groovy body parts. More relevantly, I've evolved these nifty LEG things to which comes attach an even niftier FOOT. Not only that, but I have two of these wonderful appendages.
What does this mean? Well, in simple terms, if I want to go somewhere, I don't need to friggin trumped up little scooter because, thank's to these nifty legs... I can get in a car and drive.
What, You thought I would walk? Are you mad?
I am BelDion's
My street is 45mph, it only does 17mph. I only live 5 miles from work, but we dont have bike lanes or sidewalks for me to use it. Most of the people at work live 20+ miles, not doable. And my laptop bag is too heavy to carry that far.
Really, the only thing I could use it for is short trips to the store, but where would I carry my groceries?
Before I could use it daily, need the roads to have bike lanes, and I need to carry a payload.
Consumer versions are supposed to be $3000 USD, but still.... I live 2.5 miles from work, but Ginger supposedly has a top speed of 8mph... It would take me about 19 minutes to get to work. Taking the public transportation, it takes me around 20 - 25 minutes and I'm able to read along the way... I was really excited about ginger until I found out how slow it was...
Where's the market? All the people who can afford a $3000 scooter live in the suburbs and couldn't use it to commute to work, and all the people in the city can't afford it. (Obviously a generalization, but in terms of potential market it's on target)
It doesn't have an engine but it has two electric motors per wheel (4 total). Each wheel is independent so it can turn on a dime (no axel). Also, if one motor goes out the thing can still work with just the other one. It also has redundant "sisterboards". Also, the gyroscopes/accelerometers (5) are redundant in that their results are checked against each other.
http://www.time.com/time/2001/segway/index.html
Seriously... it's an interesting piece of tech, but I'll take my bike anyday.
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
Yeah, I was one of the faceless posters that spammed /. about the unveiling of IT tomorrow morning, and got my story axed like everyone else. As stated somewhere above, if this many people keep posting about it, then why the fuck wouldn't the news-mongers of Slashdot post it sooner? And why the hell does everyone want to immediately bash the damn thing? Are you really that pissed that it's been over-hyped? I haven't heard anything about it since the first of the year, and had actually forgotten about it until the SouthPark episode the other week.
/.'ers don't either). It worries me that if this does catch on, will we all become bigger fatasses if we stop walking everywhere? I think there's more implications than just changing the world of transportation (if it really does go that far)...
I for one would love to at least try one of these out--looks like it may be fun. The price is way to high for me, and probably for the rest of America for quite some time. On the other hand, I'd like to consider the fact that I don't get much exercise as is (and probably most
Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
- Fossil Fuel
- Nuclear fission
- Hydroelectric
- Biomass
- wind/solar/tidal/fuel cells, when they work
Now, I'm not a tree-hugger by any means, but at the same time the first three on the list, which are actually real world solutions, draw the ire of every "green" on the planet as instruments of rape of mother earth. Now when we get- Cheap hydrogen fuel cells and/or
- The hippies to quit bitching about fission or
- Lukewarm/Cold fusion
we might have our "energy crisis" solvedRead my plan to save the Bengals
Guy goes and invents something, and gets griped at non-stop.
No wonder big companies don't try new ideas.
If you live out in the boroughs - public transportation is good for getting you into and then around Manhattan, but not too good for going out and about in the area. A car however is sorta overkill for many people, since the distance from home -> stores and the like is really quite short. Also, for getting around Manhattan - getting across town is always a bitch and a half - take a cab, or a really slow bus that stops every block, or a subway that goes WAY out of the way. I think this would be a ton faster and more convenient for most of these trips.
It could also be useful to a lesser degree in some places that seem sorta tailor made for this - like Boston and adjoining Cambridge area (I live in Cambridge myself now). Everything is a little too far to walk conveniently too, but pulling out my car to go to a restaurant or bar in Harvard Square is overkill, and the T will take 3 times longer.
Of course, I commute to work 13 miles away in the burbs (unfortunately a 45 minute drive in traffic, but usually more like 25 minutes since I tend to work odd hours), and this just doesn't quite have the speed/range for that to be convenient. If the speed were closer to 20 mph, and it had a range of 30-40 miles, I bet it would be a viable commuting choice for much of America. I'm not saying people are gonna get rid of cars, it seems like you still need a car for trips, for shopping for larger items, etc. but if I could cruise to work on some scooter type device instead of sitting my arse in traffic and it was on the same order of magnitude timewise as the car trip, I'd probably take the scooter. Of course, I think having to stand the whole time might be annoying, but I've never tried it. And I'm so goddamned tired at 8 or 9 in the morning that I might be dangerous on a scooter - sitting on my ass in the car I seem less likely to cause damage, though that might just be a complete fallacy.
Apart from the pollution produced by the plant charging up your NiCd / NiMH cells. Oh, and the pollution from replacing the cells ever few months after you ("you" being Joe Sixpack in this case) overcharge them and give yourself a range of about ten yards.
Once again for luck: storage cell technology is not the answer.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Just wondering...
just my blog and pix