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Recall of Segway Announced by CPSC
mshiltonj writes "The Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a voluntary recall of the Segway human transporter. The hazard is that under certain operating conditions, particularly when the batteries are near the end of charge, some Segway HTs may not deliver enough power, allowing the rider to fall. This can happen if the rider speeds up abruptly, encounters an obstacle, or continues to ride after receiving a low-battery alert."
I don't find it interesting that a software upgrade fixes the problem.
Software upgrades are the cheapest fix for any system problem. This is why they are almost always required by devices. We (companies, not specifically Segway) can ship products early with solid hardware and must less solid software because the cost of fixing problems in software are so minimal.
This software fix probably just shuts down the scooter earlier before the battery runs all the way out. A few cars do the same with gas so that people are driving at 70mph don't loose power breaks and stearing when the engine starts studdering.
Hardware fixes can often cost more then direct replacement of the product. A simple printer circuit board rework could cost $50 each to just disassemble a product, cut a trace and reassemble it. That doesn't include the cost to ship the product back to the manufacture or to a rework house somewhere in the US.
Flash is cheap and almost all companies use it to fix sw problems in the field and work around hardware problems.
remember kids that the majority of americans & the congress & senate voted to go after iraq...also bush isn't the 1st or only one who said iraq had wmd and saddam was a threat...remember these?
"One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line."
President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998
"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program."
President Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998.
"Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face."
Madeline Albright, Feb 18, 1998.
"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983."
Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18,1998.
"[W]e urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs."
Letter to President Clinton, signed by Sens. Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, and others Oct. 9, 1998
more quotes at http://www.jrwhipple.com/war/wmd.html#Hypocrats