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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.
Ok, it's a scooter, it goes slower than a moped, yet a little faster than walking. Big deal. Are we all willing to shell out that much cash to go slightly faster than walking? Don't even get me started on how it looks...it looks like the person is riding on an old fashioned push-mower.
I doubt this will revolutionize anything, all the gyro's and balance monitoring aside, it isn't that practical. It looks gay.
Actually, I think the last time was with the G3 Cube, unless you count the iPod, which has yet to play out. Note that he was actually right with the cube - it changed the world of plastics quality assurance.
Dean Kamen should really go for a patent on Methods of Influencing and Abusing the Media using Respected Businessmen and Venture Capitalists now that he knows the trade so well. He should have to pay for every keystroke, every packet transmitted, every second of mobile phone time, etc. that was wasted on hype...
I must admit, this is a pretty nifty application of existing technology (notice I didn't say "invention"), but I'm not really sure how anyone hopes this will ever be legal. On the streets of my home (New York City) a Segway rider wouldn't be allowed on the sidewalks, just like bicycles. And I don't care how stable it is - if a Segway rider got hit by a taxi going 40mph, he would still die.
New transportation mechanisms have always been met with huge hurdles to adoption. Most of them don't make it through the institutional barriers put up by the automobile manufacturers and oil companies. Even John Doerr and Steve Jobs (for all their arrogance) don't throw around the kind of influence it would take to "build cities around this invention". I can see only a few reasonable applications:
I'm sure it's useless, but I'll say it anyway - I hope the media learned its lesson this time!
At 3000 bucks american a pop, it seems that that owning one will be a way of saying, "Yeah, I'm both rich AND lazy!"
--Nuintari
slashdot : where an opinion can be wrong.
I would be ashamed to admit IT.
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
Great, for $2999 I can buy a Kawasaki Ninja, AKA DarwinCycle, and I am only 15 times more likely to be killed on the road than as a driver of an automobile. What a bargain! I think I would rather look like a dork.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
If people where that interested in traveling without cars why not use electric bikes?
Here are some samples of the proper usage of Where and Were, and We're and Wear (a bonus):
Where are my keys?
We were going to the beach, but decided not to.
We're through being cool.
What are you going to wear to the dance?
"Would it kill you to put down the toilet seat?" -- Maya Angelou
This thing is not for rich suburban white guys who hang out on internet all day. Its for postmen and chinamen.
Of course! How silly of me!! Of course the average citizen in a chinese city could afford an *electric* scooter with a $3k USD price tag!
Tell me, do you, Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs smoke crack together or alone in your biodomes?
The world won't end in darkness, it'll end in family fun, with Coca-cola clouds behind a Big Mac sun.
Who the fuck can't ride a scooter or drive a car? Is there some huge group of uncoordinated retards who cant operate a scooter or a car but can ride an IT? Is that the market for this piece of shit? It's some sort of scooter for the severely challenged?
How is IT as safe as a car? You're totally unprotected on an IT, just like on a scooter or a bike.
What a fucking joke. This has to be one of the biggest hoaxes ever.
Someone tell Steve Jobs I have an invention that will totally revolutionize the way we eat dinner. It involves a George Foreman Grill, a shredder, and a funnel. But I don't want to reveal any more because I'm filing hundreds of patent applications. Just tell Steve to make the check out to "cash."
- Have a picture
i still dont understand why you have have to control this thing with your anal sphincter.
indierock / punkrock band photos and more... http://www.digitaldefection.net
Wait just a minute! Before you go off on rant, you might want to know why someone like me would have written something like that. However, I don't have the patients to explain it someone like you, so you'll just have to deal with it.
... ... What?
...ready to hand you your ass on a plate. (Why can't it be me?)
Now, while your diatribe was (cute?) it concerns me. I'm not going to call it slander, but you obviously don't know me. I have never slurped a noodle. However judging by your incessant (flaming?) rage, and the fact that the first sentence is an overt sexual innuendo, I'm sure you know something about that. It's okay, I'm not the type to poke fun at others, but I digress.
I am stooping down to your puny-brained level and speaking in a language that you can understand
Thanks I guess, it gets lonely down here, and its refreshing to hear such clear English. It was concise and easily understood. You've truly made my day.
Why don't you take your puny little ass and go throw it off a cliff along with all your other worthless ass, braindead friends
My, My. Now I'm not a physicist, but how exactly can one 'throw' ones self? It would seem some sort of impossibility. This perplexes me. However, I did notice the reference to my posterior. Freudian Slip? I think not. I really would appreciate it if you could please cease your admiration of my anatomy.
Now as to all my " worthless ass, braindead friends"...
Put yourself out of the gene pool so you cannot pass your utter stupidity on to the next generation
Ouch! To late, I have a 3 yr old little girl already, and if you check, you might find that I left a 'Best of Breed' in the womb of your mommy. Think about it. She's such a sweet heart.
I know, I know, you're probably just some little fourteen year old, pimply kid...
Yeah, that's it. I wish I were fourteen again. I wouldn't have to come to this dreary (albeit well paying) job, with nothing to do except draw a check, and post reply comment to ubbers like you.
but if you keep talking like that about someone who weighs only 200 lbs
350lbs! Please, read the comment.
Again with the homo thing... I get it, I'm not interested. Flattered, but really really not in to that.
Well, I hope you have a pleasant day
Oh, you have no idea. I'll enjoy spending the rest of my day showing my co-workers how angry a little gay man can get, and how much time he can spend on something so stupid.
and remember, even though you may think I'll have to catch you to **** your ass first, remember, you have to sleep sometime.
Enough already!!!! I'm not into that.
At least we've got viable fucking dental plans. You tend to gain some weight when it doesn't hurt your teeth when you eat.
The funniest shit I've seen was the Book of British Smiles in Austin Powers. Had me rolling for hours.
I don't know how else to put it, this is nothing majorly new (other then the balancing system), it is a scooter, and a ugly one with no cargo space at that. All this device might do is enable people to get fatter. And wait till someone gets injured when the balancing thing fails, can you say lawsuit.
Not to mention the fact that the website it totally hosed, what are they running on Winblows XP?
Yes, I am fat.
/. a lot. You should know by now, there is nothing that feeds us like making targets like you cry... is that a whimper I hear?
...problem I have with that disorder I was telling you about, see, when I have trouble processing...
Bingo!!!
I admit to it and don't have a problem admitting that I have a problem.
You call it a problem, and then you go on to say "If I was worried about how big I am, I would probably exercise more..." I'm gessing it might be more of a problem then you think. Don't take my word for it, ask your Johnson. You may need to use a phone to talk to it, and you might want to send it a Hallmark card or something first. My guess is you haven't seen it in a while. I bet it's pretty mad.
I am not the sloth...
LIAR!!!
I eat salads, vegetables, white meat, whole wheat bread, etc. I am not the pig-out fat guy you think I am, I just happen to be large.
What a whiney little b*tch. Don't tell us about your problem. We don't want to know. We just want to laugh at your feeble attempts to regain some self esteem. Something tells me you read
I am 6'2 and weigh about 285 lbs. Most people think that I weigh about 225 because of my large frame.
Again, LIAR!!!!
Go home and cry to your mother.
I have made efforts to get out and exercise more, but it is not high on my priorities list.
Surprise? No.
Maybe I need to change this, but I haven't had the time lately. I have the ability, I used to lug myself on 7 and 14 mile hikes, but once you enter the real world and have to get a job, it can be hard to get away if that is not something you love to do.
You call 285 living in the real world? I think characters that round are usually in the comic strips.
Is this the point in which I should start to cry? Cause my reaction is more along the lines of laugh. You are a sad little ^H^H^H^H er big man. However, I enjoy watching you wallow in your own pity. I wish there where more of you. I need more targets like you to hone my talons. Practice makes perfect, and I can't wait to find your next post.
Understand that you started this, and I have nothing but time to point out your flaws. So long as you keep'em coming.
Thanks for a great day.
corporate boards are made up of people, people like you and me
NO, they are made up of other corporations, of block-stock holders and other extremely wealthy people.
You and i actually hold very little of the weatlh.
ever heard that 10% of Americans hold 80% of the weatlh in america?
THOSE are the vested interest in plutocratic oligarchy that need to be addressed. The faint and fake promise of opportunity doesnt bode well to those who struggle to feed their families while the children of the ultra rich are born into a gilded-future. Need proof of this? See your president: GWB.