You are right about the market on scooters/gyro patents.
I remember glancing at the patent/or one of them back when this thing was named "ginger". They actually have patented (I believe without researching and spending too much time on a/. post) the lateral wheel configuration as opposed to inline that we are all familiar with.
Rather than put the wheel behind the two front ones, you coul put it in front. Have the power delivered to the two back wheels and steer with the front third one, in which case you have a "trike" configuration. Since most of the weight would be behind you there would be less chance of forward tip over. Maybe you could take one of those "senior scooters" that are advertised on TV all the time and soup them up for street use.
I agree, it would be problematic to have a trailing wheel, though I admire the durability of shopping cart wheels:p Even though it might be overcome technically, pratically it would be better to go with a "trike" configuartion.
Which brings up another point. Three wheel devices are always less stable than four wheeled devices. Have you ever wondered what happenned to all the three wheeled ATVs??? They were steered by "leaning" too. But after countless accidents and deaths (and the following lawsuits) the industry changed and now you "steer" a four wheeled device.
For a minimum amount of cost you might as well add a fourth wheel for maximum stability. After all, that's what your design goal is, right???
Otherwise you might as well go with an inline configuration and make a real scooter. The market is flooded with both electric and gas (weed eater engine) micro scooters that have seemed to become popular recently.
These have both cost and convenience going for them and young kids even can ride them.
Which begs (excuse me) raises the question of what is safer to use out of all these options?
I think that the four wheels would be, with the trike in second. This added stability might be needed if you were a mailman carrying a load. Otherwise inline two would be just fine.
The Segway people would want us to believe that their Segway is completely safe, and maybe it is, but obviously the bugs need to be worked out as the recent recall attests to. Time will tell.
Also, it's not completely idiot proof, as our president was caught on film falling off a Segway. But he also has a hard time with pretzels, so this might be unduly harsh on the Segway people.
When I think of mailmen on scooters I think of the "speedy delivery" guy on Mister Rodgers, and he had a small gas powered inline scooter that I was very covetous of (and I think the makers of these things have smartly tuned in to this innate desire that boys have). He managed to get by without the need for a third wheel.
My solution for a mailman would be a gas powered unit trike configuration, with an electric option for people in warehouses. And you would not be violating any patents by making such a beast. And it could be made and sold at the $500-$1000 pricepoint that the market probably demands.
Anyway, designing one here on slashdot has been an interesting thought experiment. I also like monster garage on the discovery channel, and enjoy books by Henry Petroski. I only mention this for other "armchair" builders that may be reading.
No, it's not just you - good minds think alike:) -- I had the exact same idea. I bet that there is an expired patent for it someplace too.
A simple wheel in the back indeed would get rid of the gyros. It is a simple solution which would probably be better/more reliable than the gyros too.
But it lacks the "gee whiz" factor that tech-heads like. Indeed, it might even be boring.
Kamen would have had a much more difficult time marketing such a product too. Which begs the question -- Is it the purpose of the gyros to balance a person? Or are they there to provide a marketing angle???
Think also of all the fancy microcontrollers you wouldn't need. All you would need is batteries, motors, and simple control electronics. It would also be inherently more stable (regardless of what the Segway marketing people would say). I am very sure that if the batteries would go dead that you wouldn't be tossed off the scooter.
I bet that all those companies looking at the segway (post office) would go for a cheaper solution at the drop of a hat. This scooter could be sold for hundreds versus the Segway's thousands.
As it has been mentioned elsewhere, the allusion to "Alice in Wonderland" is interesting. In M1, he drifts off to sleep at his computer and then he wakes up and told on his computer to follow the rabbit, and he does.
So I can't help but think that this will have some Wonderland-esque ending to it, perhaps with Neo waking up at his computer and finding out it's a dream. Also, remember that Wonderland was a fantasy, not reality.
This is pure speculation on my part (and hence not a spoiler), but I would suspect that some very interesting plot twists could be made out of this.
What other measure of an item's monetary value is there than what somebody will pay for it?
I guess you could also say an item's value is inversely proportional to the number of hours that state attorney generals spend on it.
But that's why they call it an "art scam", isn't it???
There are a number of interesting books on art scams and how they are detected. Check out the book "False Impressions" by Thomas Hoving. Highly enjoyable read. Then you will understand grasshopper.
Taken as a whole, his body of work falls short of "genius". He knew how to draw and he could paint a picture -- but so do a lot of other people.
Maybe you could call him a "pop art genius" because that is what he succeeded at, self promotion. People with huge egos (such as he had) always have their disciples and defenders. But I'm not alone on this.
He was far more worried about the quality of attention he was getting rather than the quality of his work.
I wouldn't even go that far. Dali had a few unique paintings and drawings, then things slid downhill. A case study in dysfunctionality.
I wouldn't call him one of the "greatest". I would however call him one of the most famous. Famous should not be equated with greatness.
There's a couple of interesting books out about him.
The Great Dali Art Fraud and other Deceptions Out of print, get it through a library. Covers art scams that he was involved in. Evidently he would hire himself out to sign blank sheets of paper all night long before anything was printed on them.
The result is that there are countless reproductions hanging in galleries purportedly "signed" by Dali with high prices on them. Many of them are of very low quality (and I'm not even an art expert and I can tell it). People still buy them at these high prices because he is "famous", though I doubt their worth is even a fraction of what people pay. If you have seen his scribble signature it's obvious that he signed things at a high speed and with little care. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that he is still signing prints even though he has been dead since 1989.
There are two things I know. Never buy a "Corot" painting, and never buy a signed "Dali".
However, I can whole heartedly reccomend the Dalimix unisex cologne. It has a clean fresh scent that I think is better than Ck1, and you might be able to find it at Big Lots for $9.99
Actually what you need to do is buy used CDs -- the RIAA doesn't see a dime from those sales. That way you can have your music and stick your tongue out at the RIAA at the same time.
I only buy about 1 new CD a year this route -- and that's usually with a cuopon of some sort. I used to be a much bigger spender on new CDs.
Heh. I'm part of the reason they have seen a decline in new music sales. And I don't pirate music either.
he talks about music industry officials doing what they are doing in order to support their crack habits?? He spoke of it when he gave a lecture somewhere, and it was very interesting. A URL would be much appreciated. I have been looking for this article for a long time.
Re:There's something missing from Cringley's tale
on
The Innovators' Ball
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· Score: 1
Point taken. But the point of "sharp business" is well made, as I have experienced this personally with companies I have worked for.
Re:There's something missing from Cringley's tale
on
The Innovators' Ball
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· Score: 1
Yes, I was thinking the same thing as I was reading it. But mentioning this person's name could expose him to some liability we can't foresee.
But in a sense it's not necessary, as it has a ring of truth to it, and there have been similar stories in the news about original company owners losing control of their companies.
It's a small nitpick to a rather insightful article about "sharp business" and "corporate morality". I have had these very same ruminations for quite some time, and Cringley put words to them quite well.
You can listen to a preview of "Double Dutch Bus" here legally, as long as the server lasts that is.
Personally, I don't think he should have done this until he had the resources to haul this to court and win. As it stands, Apple will probably change their TOS tonight to where you have to agree to not resale the music.
I don't like spammers either, but you've got a couple of serious misunderstandings here: 1) Your e-mail system may be rendered inconvenient to use because of spam, but it's hardly inoperable. 2) When we speak of a violation of civil rights, we're generally speaking of the government or agents thereof violating them by abuse of power, not some schmuck that's sending you penis pill ads. Schmuck-spammer may be committing a crime by sending unsolicited ads, but he's not violating your rights.
no, you misunderstand
In the amount of time it took you take type that response, my inbox received 30 delivery notification failures because some spammy is using my email in his forged headers. This is besides all the regular spam I receive. Hundreds of spams is not just an inconvenience. They have in fact rendered my inbox inoperable I'm glad that you are not having any problems. Yet.
You are right -- it's government that infringes civil rights, and it's a spammer that commits a crime. but the effect is the same my ability to communicate is hindered.
And I agree with you, that suspected criminals shouldn't lose their property. However, once spammy is convicted, take his property. In fact, I think it would be a great idea to let a jury decide this. Maybe the jury could be shown some of the spams that he sent out.
In all honesty, I do think this is severe - to an extent.
I think what should happen when spammy is arrested -- have his computer and spam lists impounded. If he is convicted then the punishment should be that he loses his computer and is legally prevented from touching a computer for a couple of years.
Then if spammy starts spamming again and is convicted again, start taking away his other possesions, as clearly he is not getting the message.
I agree, some property seizure laws as they are currently implemented are wrong. But with due process they could be effective.
The problem is with the RIAA there has been no public outcry with the exception of those of us on slashdot. I think the public at large sees filetraders as some college punk somewhere that deserves what he gets. Couple this with the good ol' American "as long as it's not me" apathy, the public does not care. Sure it's bad, but it's probably the truth.
And your right about the spammers, everyone should be nailed. The thing that most don't realize, if you nail the top twelve you nail 90% of all spam.
If anyone doubts me, look at what happened when this one NZ spammer quit spamming.
What??? Sending 200 million spams a day (with fraudulent headers) to fill up every man, woman, and child's inbox with mostly illegal/law-breaking/pornographic/Nigerian scam-spam is not a serious problem???? Or crime???
I don't know what planet you come from, but my civil rights to have free and unfettered access to communication is being trampled on by the spammers that are DOSing my inbox.
So I should sacrifice my civil rights so spammy can have civil rights and fill my inbox?????
When your in jail, you lose your civil rights. That's what jail is dude.
you know, I think you are not a troll and that this comes from the heart, so I will respond.
Yes, I live in the U.S. and I mention this in the context of my government doing something about spam to help me out.
I think the fact that this large scale spammer is located in NZ is an anomoly, and that the vast majority of spam comes from american sources, even though they might use overseas servers. So hence it should be my government that help deals with it.
I do not think that my local police force has jurisdiction over all the planet, and did not to mean to insinuate this.
I do think however that other countries often follow what the US does an enact legislation that is similar. I don't state this to be elitist, just making an observation.
Another large chunk of spam does come from foreign sources, primarily Korea and China. The problem here is that the governments are not concerned at all about spam, and the ISPs aren't either, and refuse to do anything about it.
That's why you see large swath's of China/Korea IP numbers on RBL lists, and soon they will be an island to the rest of the net. Maybe then they will start wondering what is happening (though China could care less about quality access anyway, they don't want their citizens visiting "subversive" websites).
No, I do not think my police force has jurisdiction everywhere. I just want to see my government do something about the problem of spam.
true. As long as there is a demand for drugs, there will be somebody trying to provide it.
But I wouldn't say there is a demand for spam. Also, seeing a spam bust where spammy loses computer on TV would provide a large amount of emotional satisfaction to a large segment of the population, drug users included.
Slashdot Mirror
You are right about the market on scooters/gyro patents.
/. post) the lateral wheel configuration as opposed to inline that we are all familiar with.
:p Even though it might be overcome technically, pratically it would be better to go with a "trike" configuartion.
I remember glancing at the patent/or one of them back when this thing was named "ginger". They actually have patented (I believe without researching and spending too much time on a
Rather than put the wheel behind the two front ones, you coul put it in front. Have the power delivered to the two back wheels and steer with the front third one, in which case you have a "trike" configuration. Since most of the weight would be behind you there would be less chance of forward tip over. Maybe you could take one of those "senior scooters" that are advertised on TV all the time and soup them up for street use.
I agree, it would be problematic to have a trailing wheel, though I admire the durability of shopping cart wheels
Which brings up another point. Three wheel devices are always less stable than four wheeled devices. Have you ever wondered what happenned to all the three wheeled ATVs??? They were steered by "leaning" too. But after countless accidents and deaths (and the following lawsuits) the industry changed and now you "steer" a four wheeled device.
For a minimum amount of cost you might as well add a fourth wheel for maximum stability. After all, that's what your design goal is, right???
Otherwise you might as well go with an inline configuration and make a real scooter. The market is flooded with both electric and gas (weed eater engine) micro scooters that have seemed to become popular recently.
These have both cost and convenience going for them and young kids even can ride them.
Which begs (excuse me) raises the question of what is safer to use out of all these options?
I think that the four wheels would be, with the trike in second. This added stability might be needed if you were a mailman carrying a load. Otherwise inline two would be just fine.
The Segway people would want us to believe that their Segway is completely safe, and maybe it is, but obviously the bugs need to be worked out as the recent recall attests to. Time will tell.
Also, it's not completely idiot proof, as our president was caught on film falling off a Segway. But he also has a hard time with pretzels, so this might be unduly harsh on the Segway people.
When I think of mailmen on scooters I think of the "speedy delivery" guy on Mister Rodgers, and he had a small gas powered inline scooter that I was very covetous of (and I think the makers of these things have smartly tuned in to this innate desire that boys have). He managed to get by without the need for a third wheel.
My solution for a mailman would be a gas powered unit trike configuration, with an electric option for people in warehouses. And you would not be violating any patents by making such a beast. And it could be made and sold at the $500-$1000 pricepoint that the market probably demands.
Anyway, designing one here on slashdot has been an interesting thought experiment. I also like monster garage on the discovery channel, and enjoy books by Henry Petroski. I only mention this for other "armchair" builders that may be reading.
whose name is choc'ho'late. She's everybody's favorite. She works at the speed of light and you melt.
--the funny jokes are always the dirty ones
No, it's not just you - good minds think alike :) -- I had the exact same idea. I bet that there is an expired patent for it someplace too.
A simple wheel in the back indeed would get rid of the gyros. It is a simple solution which would probably be better/more reliable than the gyros too.
But it lacks the "gee whiz" factor that tech-heads like. Indeed, it might even be boring.
Kamen would have had a much more difficult time marketing such a product too. Which begs the question -- Is it the purpose of the gyros to balance a person? Or are they there to provide a marketing angle???
Think also of all the fancy microcontrollers you wouldn't need. All you would need is batteries, motors, and simple control electronics. It would also be inherently more stable (regardless of what the Segway marketing people would say). I am very sure that if the batteries would go dead that you wouldn't be tossed off the scooter.
I bet that all those companies looking at the segway (post office) would go for a cheaper solution at the drop of a hat. This scooter could be sold for hundreds versus the Segway's thousands.
It really makes you wonder.
As it has been mentioned elsewhere, the allusion to "Alice in Wonderland" is interesting. In M1, he drifts off to sleep at his computer and then he wakes up and told on his computer to follow the rabbit, and he does.
So I can't help but think that this will have some Wonderland-esque ending to it, perhaps with Neo waking up at his computer and finding out it's a dream. Also, remember that Wonderland was a fantasy, not reality.
This is pure speculation on my part (and hence not a spoiler), but I would suspect that some very interesting plot twists could be made out of this.
Semantically correct, real-world wrong.
What other measure of an item's monetary value is there than what somebody will pay for it?
I guess you could also say an item's value is inversely proportional to the number of hours that state attorney generals spend on it.
But that's why they call it an "art scam", isn't it???
There are a number of interesting books on art scams and how they are detected. Check out the book "False Impressions" by Thomas Hoving. Highly enjoyable read. Then you will understand grasshopper.
then the terrorists have won.
Oh wait....
But does anyone know why they chose macadamia nuts? Seems a very strange choice
It's a better choice than using linux gnuts, as the smell of burning flesh isn't pleasant.
Some of the paintings are amazing
There --- you said it yourself -- Some
Taken as a whole, his body of work falls short of "genius". He knew how to draw and he could paint a picture -- but so do a lot of other people.
Maybe you could call him a "pop art genius" because that is what he succeeded at, self promotion. People with huge egos (such as he had) always have their disciples and defenders. But I'm not alone on this.
He was far more worried about the quality of attention he was getting rather than the quality of his work.
"Dogs Playing Poker" -- now there's genius
I wouldn't even go that far. Dali had a few unique paintings and drawings, then things slid downhill. A case study in dysfunctionality.
I wouldn't call him one of the "greatest". I would however call him one of the most famous. Famous should not be equated with greatness.
There's a couple of interesting books out about him.
The Great Dali Art Fraud and other Deceptions Out of print, get it through a library. Covers art scams that he was involved in. Evidently he would hire himself out to sign blank sheets of paper all night long before anything was printed on them.
The result is that there are countless reproductions hanging in galleries purportedly "signed" by Dali with high prices on them. Many of them are of very low quality (and I'm not even an art expert and I can tell it). People still buy them at these high prices because he is "famous", though I doubt their worth is even a fraction of what people pay. If you have seen his scribble signature it's obvious that he signed things at a high speed and with little care. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that he is still signing prints even though he has been dead since 1989.
There's also The Shameful Life of Salvador Dali.
There are two things I know. Never buy a "Corot" painting, and never buy a signed "Dali".
However, I can whole heartedly reccomend the Dalimix unisex cologne. It has a clean fresh scent that I think is better than Ck1, and you might be able to find it at Big Lots for $9.99
Actually what you need to do is buy used CDs -- the RIAA doesn't see a dime from those sales. That way you can have your music and stick your tongue out at the RIAA at the same time.
I only buy about 1 new CD a year this route -- and that's usually with a cuopon of some sort. I used to be a much bigger spender on new CDs.
Heh. I'm part of the reason they have seen a decline in new music sales. And I don't pirate music either.
he talks about music industry officials doing what they are doing in order to support their crack habits?? He spoke of it when he gave a lecture somewhere, and it was very interesting. A URL would be much appreciated. I have been looking for this article for a long time.
Point taken. But the point of "sharp business" is well made, as I have experienced this personally with companies I have worked for.
Yes, I was thinking the same thing as I was reading it. But mentioning this person's name could expose him to some liability we can't foresee.
But in a sense it's not necessary, as it has a ring of truth to it, and there have been similar stories in the news about original company owners losing control of their companies.
It's a small nitpick to a rather insightful article about "sharp business" and "corporate morality". I have had these very same ruminations for quite some time, and Cringley put words to them quite well.
VIDEONOW discs feature a special proprietary format and will not fit into or play on other media players
How much do you wanna bet that their lawyers are not from playskool????
You can listen to a preview of "Double Dutch Bus" here legally, as long as the server lasts that is.
Personally, I don't think he should have done this until he had the resources to haul this to court and win. As it stands, Apple will probably change their TOS tonight to where you have to agree to not resale the music.
But about a month from now Linus will sit down to drink a cup of tea. When he finishes, he will proceed to pick his nose.
He will then reflect upon where he has been, the journey that has brought him along this path, and think ahead a little about where he'd like to go.
At this time the magic "penguin pixie dust" will be ready. He will then sprinkle it upon the CDR of people's contributions to the kernel.
At that time kernel 2.6.0 will be ready for us to excitedly embrace!!
spammy is spreading my email address everywhere to everyone so I hear from scum that I don't want to hear from.
equivalent to writing somebody's home phone on the bathroom wall down at the texaco.
I don't like spammers either, but you've got a couple of serious misunderstandings here: 1) Your e-mail system may be rendered inconvenient to use because of spam, but it's hardly inoperable. 2) When we speak of a violation of civil rights, we're generally speaking of the government or agents thereof violating them by abuse of power, not some schmuck that's sending you penis pill ads. Schmuck-spammer may be committing a crime by sending unsolicited ads, but he's not violating your rights.
no, you misunderstand
In the amount of time it took you take type that response, my inbox received 30 delivery notification failures because some spammy is using my email in his forged headers. This is besides all the regular spam I receive. Hundreds of spams is not just an inconvenience. They have in fact rendered my inbox inoperable I'm glad that you are not having any problems. Yet.
You are right -- it's government that infringes civil rights, and it's a spammer that commits a crime. but the effect is the same my ability to communicate is hindered.
And I agree with you, that suspected criminals shouldn't lose their property. However, once spammy is convicted, take his property. In fact, I think it would be a great idea to let a jury decide this. Maybe the jury could be shown some of the spams that he sent out.
In all honesty, I do think this is severe - to an extent.
I think what should happen when spammy is arrested -- have his computer and spam lists impounded. If he is convicted then the punishment should be that he loses his computer and is legally prevented from touching a computer for a couple of years.
Then if spammy starts spamming again and is convicted again, start taking away his other possesions, as clearly he is not getting the message.
I agree, some property seizure laws as they are currently implemented are wrong. But with due process they could be effective.
The problem is with the RIAA there has been no public outcry with the exception of those of us on slashdot. I think the public at large sees filetraders as some college punk somewhere that deserves what he gets. Couple this with the good ol' American "as long as it's not me" apathy, the public does not care. Sure it's bad, but it's probably the truth.
And your right about the spammers, everyone should be nailed. The thing that most don't realize, if you nail the top twelve you nail 90% of all spam.
If anyone doubts me, look at what happened when this one NZ spammer quit spamming.
hundreds, with the promise to keep on going. And I believe them.
I'm talking about a dozen spammers that are probably responsible for 90% of all spam.
So I would say there is a difference.
Also, I would say that the trafficking of my email address is a violation of my privacy.
This would put out of business the dozen spamhauses selling email lists.
Between these two things, spam declines to a tolerable level.
Hey,I'm all over due process.
Let spammy sit in front of a jury where the jury decides whether he keeps his house or car.
Then show the jury the spams that spammy sent.
I'm all over this idea.
What??? Sending 200 million spams a day (with fraudulent headers) to fill up every man, woman, and child's inbox with mostly illegal/law-breaking/pornographic/Nigerian scam-spam is not a serious problem???? Or crime???
I don't know what planet you come from, but my civil rights to have free and unfettered access to communication is being trampled on by the spammers that are DOSing my inbox.
So I should sacrifice my civil rights so spammy can have civil rights and fill my inbox?????
When your in jail, you lose your civil rights. That's what jail is dude.
Take away freakin' spammy's house and car.
Funny, isn't that what the RIAA is doing to people?
dude, I don't know where you have been. The RIAA is suing the whole internet , not just a handful of people.
Just because the RIAA might be using this tactic doesn't make it a bad idea. Your logic is flawed.
you know, I think you are not a troll and that this comes from the heart, so I will respond.
Yes, I live in the U.S. and I mention this in the context of my government doing something about spam to help me out.
I think the fact that this large scale spammer is located in NZ is an anomoly, and that the vast majority of spam comes from american sources, even though they might use overseas servers. So hence it should be my government that help deals with it.
I do not think that my local police force has jurisdiction over all the planet, and did not to mean to insinuate this.
I do think however that other countries often follow what the US does an enact legislation that is similar. I don't state this to be elitist, just making an observation.
Another large chunk of spam does come from foreign sources, primarily Korea and China. The problem here is that the governments are not concerned at all about spam, and the ISPs aren't either, and refuse to do anything about it.
That's why you see large swath's of China/Korea IP numbers on RBL lists, and soon they will be an island to the rest of the net. Maybe then they will start wondering what is happening (though China could care less about quality access anyway, they don't want their citizens visiting "subversive" websites).
No, I do not think my police force has jurisdiction everywhere. I just want to see my government do something about the problem of spam.
true. As long as there is a demand for drugs, there will be somebody trying to provide it.
But I wouldn't say there is a demand for spam. Also, seeing a spam bust where spammy loses computer on TV would provide a large amount of emotional satisfaction to a large segment of the population, drug users included.