As the anecdote states, there are some occasional uses for the Segway. But most of all, there is the overwhelming market of people who want to try the Segway, if only for a few minutes. So why not cater to that market? Imagine having a pair of these at a trade show, or a high density location, like a beach resort.
In the past, Ive been to ocean boardwalks, and there is a very well recieved rental business of odd bicycles. There is the two person side-by-side model, the four person trolley model, and the recombinant sit-down-and-bike. They were availible to hourly rentals, and business was booming! Sure, you could only rent the large bicycles in the early morning and late afternoon, for traffic concerns, but you wouldn't have that restriction with a Segway, designed to have the same footprint as a pedestrian.
So, one would set up a booth, or a storefront, and wait. Perhaps they would take to circling around on the Segway, drawing people in. When people asked about it, they could be quickly drawn back to the storefront, where they would be given the salespitch for Rent-A-Segway.
Since the Segway has a maximum range of about fifteen miles, and top speed of 12 mph, an ideal rental would be an hour or two, to ensure that the battery wouldnt run down on them.
Let's see now...2 Segways, that's a $6000 overhead. Wooh! But at a three day conference, that's about 36 show time, or 72 possible rental hours. Now, let's consider that the segway's are under rental for 50 of those hours. Would $50 an hour be completely unreasonable for a Segway? Everyone would want to try one. $30 a half hour. Deep pockets at these tech conferences, or so I hear. $110 to use the Segway until the battery ran down, depending on how fast you are going. They would even be rented to other companies for advertisement. Strap a sign on the front-the machine will do the head turning, and your sign would be in the right place at the right time. The idea could even be expanded to rent-a-segway-for-a-week, or timeshare Segways.
To break even with those conditions and prices, you would have to sell about 100 hours of Segway time-which could be accomplished very easily at two conferences. I know you would have to buy admission, rent a booth, insure yourself against stupdids, etc, etc, but for the sake of arguement, Im not including those at the moment.
The Segway is indeed an excellent invention, but it is not suited to the public market just yet, But make use of inherent curiousity in homo sapiens....sell them time on a Segway!
So the scientists have succeeded in encoding a tiny black and white picture on a polymer molecule. Hooray! Another tiny step for science, but a giant leap for mankind. However, realitically, I don't think Google will be running on a sugar-cube sized memory bank any day now. The money to move that kind of infrastructure onto a quantum computer is unthinkable.
So, a wonderful step forward....but there are still many many steps left.
Dang it! Someone has beat me to the lucrative market of making completely inconsequential items for insane amounts of money! Curses! My plans for world domination.....crushed....
...now to take over the world by selling fast food, containing a minute dose of alkaloid...completely harmless, but absolutely addictive!
I'm all for ergonomics. It's only natural to use a more comfortable positioning when one can.
But this is just WEIRD. Capitalization neccessary.
Sure, you could stand on your head and type. It would be different. Not necessarily productive, just weird, no capitalization.
$350 for WEIRDness? I'll hire a typist myself.....hmm, minimum wage, that's over sixty hours of them doing my work for me! I'll be happier that way.....or I could double my money by folding it in half and putting it in my pocket. Thank-you-very-much-have-a-nice-day.
Carpal Tunnel is a mighty mean thing....and it's really, really common where you least expect it. Computer users can adapt to a non-ergonomic environment. Personally, Ive started using the foam wrist brace for the keyboard, and have transitioned to the fully programmable, four button, Cordless Trackman FX made by Logitech. So, no problems there.
However, as a member of both a full band and orchestra, I see RSI and CTS all the time. I see flutists wearing wrist braces prior to auditions, to keep their hands from going numb. Violinists and violists use special braces to keep from getting neck cramps, and clarinets & oboes have equipment to take pressure off their thumbs.
So, most (read:popular) instruments have methods developed to take care of this. But then you have others. Tuba and sousaphone players have a horrible time, stretching and carrying such a big instrument. Myself, I'll get shooting pains along my left arm during long practices on the bassoon, easily the least ergonomic instrument. There's no alternative way to hold it, and you *cannot* wear a wrist brace while playing it. You just can't reach the needed keys with that kind of restriction.
But music is still being composed, and there's still need for bassists, cellists, and all the low winds. If we complain about a eight-hour practice, all we get is "You're young. You'll survive." So much for the helpful employer. We just try to pace ourselves to avoid it.
Is working at a computer for eight hours worth the injuries? No. Is the music worth the trouble? Yes.
A lot of the technology needed for a Mars Colonization Mission has already been developed, and is currently being tested. With the discovery of water, it makes the mission that much more desirable, and the possiblily of Terraforming grows dramatically. NASA must be one bunch of happy campers right about now.
The bigshots say "Oh hey. Maybe people will pay for their MP3s" So they call up the IT department, and as "Will you sell MP3's for us?" As the IT department laughs merrily, they put up a song, and set a token price of $0.99
And then they watch. The bigshots want to see sales, even if they're selling a no name song, and the IT department wants to get raises for what they did.
Ergo, it is hoped that the system will work. Don't whine about the format-that's not the issue. Selling music for a reasonable price is.
"Oh yes, I met my love at the HoloConference 2012. We both had the same avatar....it was love at first click. She gave me her IP address, and we got married the week later in VirtuVegas."
It seems only reasonable that if the Matrix is this badly coded, then it must be a product of the beast we all know as Microsoft.
You write a friggin' patch and call it Matrix v1.2. Realistically, the Matrix should be put off line and fixed. The people at Microsoft seem to have introduced a number of patches, including the revolution software "Agent 1.0", as well as the "Self-Editing Operating System:Codename Deja-vu". However, there failed to introduce a solution, and instead serve as excellent warning signs to the Linux program "The One:Defence of Zion".
Also, it is only reasonable that by 2099(the assumed year of the Matrix) Microsoft will have grown to such a level that they rule the world and have machines write their code. Hence, AI simply builds upon the code they have been writing for years when they build the Matrix.
...and thus Windows paves the way for the Revolution.
First, God said "Let there be light, and darkness." Then, He said, "Let everything be constructed of little tiny pieces of stuff, so small the silly humans can't see them." And then He said, "Let there be little toys inside these tiny pieces, so that anyone smart enough may have a little fun. These shall be tops, stickers, and anything else I deem to be fun." And thus it was, and it was good.
Slashdot Mirror
As the anecdote states, there are some occasional uses for the Segway. But most of all, there is the overwhelming market of people who want to try the Segway, if only for a few minutes. So why not cater to that market? Imagine having a pair of these at a trade show, or a high density location, like a beach resort.
In the past, Ive been to ocean boardwalks, and there is a very well recieved rental business of odd bicycles. There is the two person side-by-side model, the four person trolley model, and the recombinant sit-down-and-bike. They were availible to hourly rentals, and business was booming! Sure, you could only rent the large bicycles in the early morning and late afternoon, for traffic concerns, but you wouldn't have that restriction with a Segway, designed to have the same footprint as a pedestrian.
So, one would set up a booth, or a storefront, and wait. Perhaps they would take to circling around on the Segway, drawing people in. When people asked about it, they could be quickly drawn back to the storefront, where they would be given the salespitch for Rent-A-Segway.
Since the Segway has a maximum range of about fifteen miles, and top speed of 12 mph, an ideal rental would be an hour or two, to ensure that the battery wouldnt run down on them.
Let's see now...2 Segways, that's a $6000 overhead. Wooh! But at a three day conference, that's about 36 show time, or 72 possible rental hours. Now, let's consider that the segway's are under rental for 50 of those hours. Would $50 an hour be completely unreasonable for a Segway? Everyone would want to try one. $30 a half hour. Deep pockets at these tech conferences, or so I hear. $110 to use the Segway until the battery ran down, depending on how fast you are going. They would even be rented to other companies for advertisement. Strap a sign on the front-the machine will do the head turning, and your sign would be in the right place at the right time. The idea could even be expanded to rent-a-segway-for-a-week, or timeshare Segways.
To break even with those conditions and prices, you would have to sell about 100 hours of Segway time-which could be accomplished very easily at two conferences. I know you would have to buy admission, rent a booth, insure yourself against stupdids, etc, etc, but for the sake of arguement, Im not including those at the moment.
The Segway is indeed an excellent invention, but it is not suited to the public market just yet, But make use of inherent curiousity in homo sapiens....sell them time on a Segway!
So the scientists have succeeded in encoding a tiny black and white picture on a polymer molecule. Hooray! Another tiny step for science, but a giant leap for mankind. However, realitically, I don't think Google will be running on a sugar-cube sized memory bank any day now. The money to move that kind of infrastructure onto a quantum computer is unthinkable.
So, a wonderful step forward....but there are still many many steps left.
Sincerely, your local cynic
Dang it! Someone has beat me to the lucrative market of making completely inconsequential items for insane amounts of money! Curses! My plans for world domination.....crushed....
...now to take over the world by selling fast food, containing a minute dose of alkaloid...completely harmless, but absolutely addictive!
*Sigh* So much evil, so little time
I'm all for ergonomics. It's only natural to use a more comfortable positioning when one can. But this is just WEIRD. Capitalization neccessary. Sure, you could stand on your head and type. It would be different. Not necessarily productive, just weird, no capitalization. $350 for WEIRDness? I'll hire a typist myself.....hmm, minimum wage, that's over sixty hours of them doing my work for me! I'll be happier that way.....or I could double my money by folding it in half and putting it in my pocket. Thank-you-very-much-have-a-nice-day.
Carpal Tunnel is a mighty mean thing....and it's really, really common where you least expect it. Computer users can adapt to a non-ergonomic environment. Personally, Ive started using the foam wrist brace for the keyboard, and have transitioned to the fully programmable, four button, Cordless Trackman FX made by Logitech. So, no problems there.
However, as a member of both a full band and orchestra, I see RSI and CTS all the time. I see flutists wearing wrist braces prior to auditions, to keep their hands from going numb. Violinists and violists use special braces to keep from getting neck cramps, and clarinets & oboes have equipment to take pressure off their thumbs.
So, most (read:popular) instruments have methods developed to take care of this. But then you have others. Tuba and sousaphone players have a horrible time, stretching and carrying such a big instrument. Myself, I'll get shooting pains along my left arm during long practices on the bassoon, easily the least ergonomic instrument. There's no alternative way to hold it, and you *cannot* wear a wrist brace while playing it. You just can't reach the needed keys with that kind of restriction.
But music is still being composed, and there's still need for bassists, cellists, and all the low winds. If we complain about a eight-hour practice, all we get is "You're young. You'll survive." So much for the helpful employer. We just try to pace ourselves to avoid it.
Is working at a computer for eight hours worth the injuries? No.
Is the music worth the trouble? Yes.
A lot of the technology needed for a Mars Colonization Mission has already been developed, and is currently being tested. With the discovery of water, it makes the mission that much more desirable, and the possiblily of Terraforming grows dramatically. NASA must be one bunch of happy campers right about now.
Welcome to the grand world of theory business.
The bigshots say "Oh hey. Maybe people will pay for their MP3s" So they call up the IT department, and as "Will you sell MP3's for us?" As the IT department laughs merrily, they put up a song, and set a token price of $0.99
And then they watch. The bigshots want to see sales, even if they're selling a no name song, and the IT department wants to get raises for what they did.
Ergo, it is hoped that the system will work. Don't whine about the format-that's not the issue. Selling music for a reasonable price is.
Welcome to the future, ladies and gentlemen.
You write a friggin' patch and call it Matrix v1.2. Realistically, the Matrix should be put off line and fixed. The people at Microsoft seem to have introduced a number of patches, including the revolution software "Agent 1.0", as well as the "Self-Editing Operating System:Codename Deja-vu". However, there failed to introduce a solution, and instead serve as excellent warning signs to the Linux program "The One:Defence of Zion".
Also, it is only reasonable that by 2099(the assumed year of the Matrix) Microsoft will have grown to such a level that they rule the world and have machines write their code. Hence, AI simply builds upon the code they have been writing for years when they build the Matrix.
...and thus Windows paves the way for the Revolution.
First, God said "Let there be light, and darkness." Then, He said, "Let everything be constructed of little tiny pieces of stuff, so small the silly humans can't see them." And then He said, "Let there be little toys inside these tiny pieces, so that anyone smart enough may have a little fun. These shall be tops, stickers, and anything else I deem to be fun." And thus it was, and it was good.