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My Segway HT "Month-iversary"
Phillip M. Torrone writes "I didn't realize it, but I've been using a Segway HT for one month as of 01/04/03. To put it simply--it's been great and the HT has exceeded all expectations, I'm cautiously optimistic that this was a great purchase and look forward to the next 30 days. You can read, see and hear about my experiences here: http://www.bookofseg.com." I have yet to see one of these in real life, but they do look fun.
I think all the people who are saying "electric scooter, big whoop. $3,000, yeah right" are slightly missing the point. Yeah, it's kind of wimpy for the price tag. Yeah, it's kind of expensive, and it's questionable who would want to use it.
But this is just the first model. It's more sort of a proof of concept--a demonstration that the scooter can work, and looks as neat as all get-out in motion. As time goes on, the performance will improve and the price will fall.
Look at the Palm (Pilot). The first model was, what, 128K? With no backlight, no infra-red, or anything? And how high was the price tag? And now the Visor Deluxe, which was at one time the wet dream of anybody who even looked at a Palm, is only $130 brand new.
Look at the DVD player. The original models were expensive enough, the first bunch of discs were glitchy enough, that a lot of people scoffed and made snide remarks. But the DVD went on to become the fastest-adopted new consumer technology ever.
So here we have a relatively slow, electric-powered self-stabilizing scooter, for $3,000. Are very many of us going to buy it? Do very many of us have the money to sink into that sort of gee-gaw? No and no. I know I'm not going to be spending three grand on something like that myself, either. Nor would I be likely to spend two grand, or even one grand.
But by the time it gets to about $500, sign me up.
What in the world is this story doing in the science section?
That thing only has a range of 15 miles. That's really not very far if you're not in college or living in Manhatten. It's 7 miles round trip for me to get to a grocery store. Beyond the grocery store (and a gas station), it's well more than 15 miles to get to anything else.
Before you ask: no, I don't live in the boondocks. I live in a metropolitan area (Tampa, FL, US).
Offtopic alert -- but I had to reply:
Funny you should mention this. I gave up using my Palm about 2 years ago. It's strictly a toy.
Ever buy a fold-up keyboard for a Palm? And use something like WordSmith? Ever just slip the keyboard and the Palm into your pocket, go someplace and just WRITE? Having the keyboard with me everywhere is what made it a killer "app" for me. Meetings, coffeeshops... no more yellow pads. No more searching for information. I've always got it with me. And before I saw the keyboard, I couldn't even imagine it.
The most exciting part, for me, about something new is waiting to see how people innovate. I'd keep watching the Segway...
I would have to say that explosives are the most abused technology in all of history.
well, for one thing the segway was more marketed towards people like mailmen and such - and it's an improvement over thier current needs.
Then there are places that propelled transportation is very desirable (such as where I live, an extremely hilly area - east tennessee) where many hills are kinda long and steep for a bike ride (as a teenager I had a spedometer on my bike, by about halfway down the hill I lived on I got up to 45 MPH coasting - no input from me - and I finally lost nerve and braked - I was still accelerating). I've seen pictures from california where things are pretty dense and steep - so they would be usefull.
The important part of your post is "what will it do for me that my bike won't?" - probably nothing, but that doesn't mean it won't for someone else - not every single person on the planet lives in the same environment that you do.
------- Sorry about the spelling, I suffer from two problems. Dyslexia makes it difficult to spell well, lazy makes it
hey all you fat rich americans
;-P
try WALKING
i mean really, this segway thing is so ridiculous, i am absolutely ashamed looking at it. can you imagine what other people think of you riding around on this thing? it's like training wheels for our electric scooters when we're old, fat, with diabetes. i have nothing but derision for anyone who buys one.
negativity disclaimer: i am an american, i get paid an above average salary, and i am trying to lose weight.
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Sure, you can look at the Segway as another excuse not to walk or ride. But the truth of the matter is, for distances greater than 3 city blocks, most people will hop in their cars and drive. This leads to community designs without sidewalks, an absence of shops that can survive outside of a mall, shopping, strip, or otherwise, and other omissions (shade trees, pedestrian crossings, etc.) that tend to reinforce the impulse to drive.
In this light, the Segway is an ideal tool for getting people who otherwise would have driven the mile or so distance to the grocery store, video rental place, or local strip mall, and putting them on the local streets. Consider this a way of boosting pedestrian traffic by extending the 3-block distance people would choose to walk, and thus displace auto travel. This is what Jobs and other people who saw the Segway meant when they said that cities would be redesigned around them.
Sure, I'll walk, or ride my bike, or ride the bus. But then again, I don't own a car. If a Segway can displace cars for short-distance travel, then all the more power to them, fat lazy Americans be damned!
BTW, 15 miles on a single charge is far more than many people tend to commute, even in their cars, in highly urbanized areas. Hell, I used to bike the 15 miles from West LA to Burbank and back (up the Cahuenga pass and back every day) - that trip took me 1.5 hours (each way). If you're willing to bike that much, more power to you, but complaining 15 miles isn't enough range for a Segway is missing the point - 15 miles is overkill for the purpose the Segway is meant to serve - bridging the gap between the 3 blocks most people are willing to walk, and when they whip out their car keys and start contributing to traffic, pollution, and parking problems.
Also, if you think about it, you get a lot more exercise standing on a Segway than you do sitting in your car...
I'd love to see whether the Segway makes people more or less active.
Without going too much in to weight debates, maybe the point is if you're too heavy for the Segway the excercise may do you some good.
matguy(.com)
>>Bikes are not inconsiderate or dangerous.
This is true, but reaks of the "guns don't kill people" argument. What I mean is that, while it's certainly possible to use a bike considerately, and indeed most people do, it takes a bigger concious effort than just walking down the street, since you are much bigger and are moving much faster. Thus, it's much easier to be careless and inconsiderate, just as having a gun makes it infinitely easier to wound or kill someone. And believe me, as someone who both goes to Penn State and has lived in the town for over a decade, there are *plenty* of people who are both dangerous and inconsiderate.