why does the world need to embrace the segway? It fills a niche that frankly barely exists, and it fills it in a non-unique, overpriced, and overly complex fashion.
as far as getting better with time. It's had 10 years so far, and it's yet to grow even one extra wheel that would define a plane of balance.
If you've ever seen someone "roll up" on a Segway, then you know it's in no way cooler than any other scooter. It's the "instantly make anyone look like a total tool" device.
It was invented to try to radically mix up society and how we travel, change the way we travel in cities...Never getting the impact it was intended for..
I disagree. It was "invented" to be sold for large amounts of money and make people rich. It was "MARKETED" as a radical change to the way people move and would change the world.
I would argue that it did have the impact it was intended for, it made Dean Kamen a lot of money. It did not have the impact it was marketed for because..well, because that was just retarded.
It's just a scooter. a cool and funny looking, but ultimately impractical scooter. that's all it ever was, all it's ever going to be.
agreed. this is the same kind of exhibitionistic editorial masturbation that we get over and over and over from these people. Yes, we get it...you like to see your words in print and didn't have anything really useful to say. fine, but I'm getting sick to shit of it. OMG, two devices with radically different form factors and usage patters might be able to co-exist! who could have predicted that!
It's just an English literature/writing class with a narrow focus on zombie fiction. It's not THAT big a deal, or even all that uncommon. Lots of schools have similar classes with focus in comics, sci-fi movies, golden age cinema, and even pornography. It's an effort to un-stuffy the traditional curriculum, but it's no less legitimate than "bible as literature" that most colleges offers. In fact, considering the zombie overtones of the Jesus mythos, it's VERY similar.
My company recently changed from HP server hardware to Dell, and it's been an absolute nightmare.
ridiculously long lead times on core hardware
partial shipments (literally shipping servers half built because parts weren't available)
complete inability to produce two systems configured the same way in a row
idrac is shit. utter complete shit.
If I have to troubleshoot and bug check their hardware/firmware ONE MORE TIME, and hear from them "gee, we've never seen that before", I'm going to punch someone in the neck.
A healthy dose of skepticism is a great thing, but you're just being a bonehead.
I think you're confusing "bonehead" with "real world". I'm sorry if you have an emotional investment in the coolfactor of these things, but that doesn't change the fact that these are:
1. not for sale
2. still under development
3. have never been demonstrated to function in "jet pack-ish fashion"
I can't for the life of me figure out how it is that you put all that together in your head and come up with "yep, works great".
It's laughable to compare the specs of a device that doesn't perform to it's own specs, with devices you can actually buy and fly. When it actually DOES work as planned, then this conversation will make sense.
In case you missed the point, that was the genesis of this sub-thread. Someone said the Martin approach was "much better" than the jetpack approach, except that the martin approach doesn't work (yet?).
so I guess I should have bought...um...that other tablet PC.
Yes, they are called laptops. Often cheaper and always more functional then Ipads.
I have a laptop. and I have a netbook. and a couple of workstation PC's. Here's the funny thing, they all fill a niche that I've found useful, and not one of them completely replaces the others. "always more functional" may be true if your usage patters are extremely limited, but mine aren't.
If you can only afford ONE device, then by all means buy the most general purpose one you can find. But if your lifestyle allows you the luxury of buying devices that fit specific use cases, then why not. I dont' see the need to try to make a netbook work where a tablet would work better just so I can be super-anti-fanboi.
No-one I know with an Ipad has been able to get it past 5 hours in real world conditions. It does worse then my EeePC.
I'm sure even YOU wouldn't argue that battery life varies with the usage profile. Sounds like the people you know are using the HELL out of this device that you think is useless. Hmm...someone has to be wrong here.
Also dont know where you get this idea from. It takes just as long as my Ubuntu install from a cold start.
Frankly, that's bullshit. You'll still be looking at POST while a true instant on device is half done with whatever you turned it on for.
Plus they will have a keyboard
Let me see you using that keyboard while walking around, or lounging on the couch. You'll get it done, very slowly and looking like a douche.
As for being a tablet, the Ipad is a complete failure
I think most businesses would KILL for a failure of this magnitude. Don't you?
, everything requires a separate machine with Itunes so it cant be shared around (back to mass storage)
I haven't connected my ipad to a PC once since I activated it (a step that I agree is completely unnecessary). Hardly a "requirement".
. Either the entire tablet fad will blow over or the Ipad will be killed by more functional Android or even WebOS tablets (as unlikely as it is for WebOS to get off the ground) which may even offer such functionality as joining a domain, connecting directly to a projector or becoming an input device for laptops and desktops.
you just spent all that time telling us why tablets are stupid and useless, now you tell us the ipad will be killed by other tablets. Fanboism is douchebaggery of the first order, but your position runs a close second.
or are you suggesting that no company would ever dream to exaggerate specs, or overpromise on claims that they can't ever deliver on.
The fact is, as I said in MY first post, the machine doesn't exist so far as their claimed specs goes. It has been demonstrated to do exactly ZERO of the claims they've made.
Claims are easy, actually making the damn thing work is the hard part. Until they make it work, what is there to get excited about? It's an odd looking hover craft.
well, you have me there. The ipad has serious flaws, so I guess I should have bought...um...that other tablet PC. You know, from the vast market place of tablet computing devices of which the iPad is a flawed and pitiful example. oh that's right...there's NO other competing products (unless you count a freaking laptop with the screen twisted around like a possessed Linda Blair).
When the market is awash in ipad killer competitors that do everything the ipad doesn't, THEN I'll get involved in fanboy bashing with you, but until then, the ipad may not be perfect, but you can at least actually BUY one.
Multi-touch sucks hairy balls for a workout media player. it's kind of cool, but I don't even think I can FIT two fingers on that little screen to multi-touch anything.
Now we have buttons on the shuffle...just like we USED to have on the shuffle, but they told us we didn't want.
anyone else getting the idea that apple model years are all about "different" not "better"?
yeah, I experienced something like that. After installing the 3.2 update my 3G slowed to a crawl. Countless times I tried to take a picture of something and by the time the camera app actually started, the picture subject was a distant memory. It would save up screen touches until it could catch up, so 20-30 seconds later the phone would still be executing every sequential screen touch I'd made in frustration.
I paid the ETF fee to break my contract and get an android Evo 4G. best money I ever spent. Not that the phone is so fantastic, but that I don't feel like punching babies every time I use it now.
and that was 3.2, not even ios4. I can imagine the horror of using Ios4 on a 3G. Apple should be ashamed of letting a bloated OS even be installed on hardware that can't use it. I thought "user experience" was important to them. But I guess it drives upgrades...
Really? That's odd...for something that "works very well" there's not a single video (or photo) of the thing flying over about 4 feet in the air, or for a duration of over about 30 seconds.
The BEST video to be seen of the thing is an UNMANNED flight (read: minus 200lbs operator weight) that goes straight up and then back down.
for something that is supposed to have an 8000ft ceiling, 30 min duration, 60mph speed, and 30 mile range...it has accomplished exactly NONE of these, or even a fraction in the first decimal place.
this device 'exists' only so far as it needs to in order to fleece investors of cash. Moller must be proud.
sure, who wouldn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a DRM restricted copy of something in a format that isn't guaranteed to even be supported in 5 years. I'd MUCH rather have it in a self-contained CD format, or even better some kind of format that didn't need a special program, or reader, or even device to read. If only someone could come up with some way of having text information archived in a format that was completely device independent, and or even usable without electricity...THAT would be revolutionary. I'd sign up for that. If only it existed.
Good point. It's not like people just fly for no reason. I mean except for recreational pilots, parasailers, hang gliders, ultralights, gyrocopters, and a few I've forgotten. Except for all those hundreds of thousands of people, nobody would be interested in pointless flight. total waste of time.
except that after 25 years of development, the Martin Jetpack continues to not exist (beyond prototypes that don't perform to published theoretical specs). Hell, if we're pitching things that don't exist against things that do, why not run with anti-gravity and trump them all?
Slashdot Mirror
"instantly make anyone look like a total tool"
That's why they're used in police departments.
Ever actually SEE a cop on a segway? It's not an image that inspires confidence in authority. Especially when they make them wear a helmet.
you're new here, aren't you...
why does the world need to embrace the segway? It fills a niche that frankly barely exists, and it fills it in a non-unique, overpriced, and overly complex fashion.
as far as getting better with time. It's had 10 years so far, and it's yet to grow even one extra wheel that would define a plane of balance.
Velcro was designed for its exact purpose. Go ask NASA.
Or...one could refer to the actual inventor, instead of NASA which was founded almost 20 years AFTER velcro was invented. Nice try though. ;-)
If you've ever seen someone "roll up" on a Segway, then you know it's in no way cooler than any other scooter. It's the "instantly make anyone look like a total tool" device.
It was invented to try to radically mix up society and how we travel, change the way we travel in cities...Never getting the impact it was intended for..
I disagree. It was "invented" to be sold for large amounts of money and make people rich. It was "MARKETED" as a radical change to the way people move and would change the world.
I would argue that it did have the impact it was intended for, it made Dean Kamen a lot of money. It did not have the impact it was marketed for because..well, because that was just retarded.
It's just a scooter. a cool and funny looking, but ultimately impractical scooter. that's all it ever was, all it's ever going to be.
good luck getting a pigeon to fly home from pluto
The medication isn't working like it used to.
agreed. this is the same kind of exhibitionistic editorial masturbation that we get over and over and over from these people. Yes, we get it...you like to see your words in print and didn't have anything really useful to say. fine, but I'm getting sick to shit of it. OMG, two devices with radically different form factors and usage patters might be able to co-exist! who could have predicted that!
It's just an English literature/writing class with a narrow focus on zombie fiction. It's not THAT big a deal, or even all that uncommon. Lots of schools have similar classes with focus in comics, sci-fi movies, golden age cinema, and even pornography. It's an effort to un-stuffy the traditional curriculum, but it's no less legitimate than "bible as literature" that most colleges offers. In fact, considering the zombie overtones of the Jesus mythos, it's VERY similar.
could you please tell me where I can buy acid at lowest margins? I..uh...need about 10,000 sheets.
My company recently changed from HP server hardware to Dell, and it's been an absolute nightmare.
ridiculously long lead times on core hardware
partial shipments (literally shipping servers half built because parts weren't available) complete inability to produce two systems configured the same way in a row idrac is shit. utter complete shit.
If I have to troubleshoot and bug check their hardware/firmware ONE MORE TIME, and hear from them "gee, we've never seen that before", I'm going to punch someone in the neck.
and say unreservedly that Dell can go to hell.
A healthy dose of skepticism is a great thing, but you're just being a bonehead.
I think you're confusing "bonehead" with "real world". I'm sorry if you have an emotional investment in the coolfactor of these things, but that doesn't change the fact that these are:
1. not for sale
2. still under development
3. have never been demonstrated to function in "jet pack-ish fashion"
I can't for the life of me figure out how it is that you put all that together in your head and come up with "yep, works great". It's laughable to compare the specs of a device that doesn't perform to it's own specs, with devices you can actually buy and fly. When it actually DOES work as planned, then this conversation will make sense.
In case you missed the point, that was the genesis of this sub-thread. Someone said the Martin approach was "much better" than the jetpack approach, except that the martin approach doesn't work (yet?).
Yes, they are called laptops. Often cheaper and always more functional then Ipads.
I have a laptop. and I have a netbook. and a couple of workstation PC's. Here's the funny thing, they all fill a niche that I've found useful, and not one of them completely replaces the others. "always more functional" may be true if your usage patters are extremely limited, but mine aren't.
If you can only afford ONE device, then by all means buy the most general purpose one you can find. But if your lifestyle allows you the luxury of buying devices that fit specific use cases, then why not. I dont' see the need to try to make a netbook work where a tablet would work better just so I can be super-anti-fanboi.
I'm sure even YOU wouldn't argue that battery life varies with the usage profile. Sounds like the people you know are using the HELL out of this device that you think is useless. Hmm...someone has to be wrong here.
Frankly, that's bullshit. You'll still be looking at POST while a true instant on device is half done with whatever you turned it on for.
Let me see you using that keyboard while walking around, or lounging on the couch. You'll get it done, very slowly and looking like a douche.
I think most businesses would KILL for a failure of this magnitude. Don't you?
I haven't connected my ipad to a PC once since I activated it (a step that I agree is completely unnecessary). Hardly a "requirement".
you just spent all that time telling us why tablets are stupid and useless, now you tell us the ipad will be killed by other tablets. Fanboism is douchebaggery of the first order, but your position runs a close second.
I hope you're just pretending to be gullible.
or are you suggesting that no company would ever dream to exaggerate specs, or overpromise on claims that they can't ever deliver on.
The fact is, as I said in MY first post, the machine doesn't exist so far as their claimed specs goes. It has been demonstrated to do exactly ZERO of the claims they've made.
Claims are easy, actually making the damn thing work is the hard part. Until they make it work, what is there to get excited about? It's an odd looking hover craft.
well, you have me there. The ipad has serious flaws, so I guess I should have bought...um...that other tablet PC. You know, from the vast market place of tablet computing devices of which the iPad is a flawed and pitiful example. oh that's right...there's NO other competing products (unless you count a freaking laptop with the screen twisted around like a possessed Linda Blair).
When the market is awash in ipad killer competitors that do everything the ipad doesn't, THEN I'll get involved in fanboy bashing with you, but until then, the ipad may not be perfect, but you can at least actually BUY one.
Multi-touch sucks hairy balls for a workout media player. it's kind of cool, but I don't even think I can FIT two fingers on that little screen to multi-touch anything.
Now we have buttons on the shuffle...just like we USED to have on the shuffle, but they told us we didn't want.
anyone else getting the idea that apple model years are all about "different" not "better"?
yeah, I experienced something like that. After installing the 3.2 update my 3G slowed to a crawl. Countless times I tried to take a picture of something and by the time the camera app actually started, the picture subject was a distant memory. It would save up screen touches until it could catch up, so 20-30 seconds later the phone would still be executing every sequential screen touch I'd made in frustration.
I paid the ETF fee to break my contract and get an android Evo 4G. best money I ever spent. Not that the phone is so fantastic, but that I don't feel like punching babies every time I use it now.
and that was 3.2, not even ios4. I can imagine the horror of using Ios4 on a 3G. Apple should be ashamed of letting a bloated OS even be installed on hardware that can't use it. I thought "user experience" was important to them. But I guess it drives upgrades...
Really? That's odd...for something that "works very well" there's not a single video (or photo) of the thing flying over about 4 feet in the air, or for a duration of over about 30 seconds.
The BEST video to be seen of the thing is an UNMANNED flight (read: minus 200lbs operator weight) that goes straight up and then back down.
for something that is supposed to have an 8000ft ceiling, 30 min duration, 60mph speed, and 30 mile range...it has accomplished exactly NONE of these, or even a fraction in the first decimal place.
this device 'exists' only so far as it needs to in order to fleece investors of cash. Moller must be proud.
sure, who wouldn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a DRM restricted copy of something in a format that isn't guaranteed to even be supported in 5 years. I'd MUCH rather have it in a self-contained CD format, or even better some kind of format that didn't need a special program, or reader, or even device to read. If only someone could come up with some way of having text information archived in a format that was completely device independent, and or even usable without electricity...THAT would be revolutionary. I'd sign up for that. If only it existed.
Good point. It's not like people just fly for no reason. I mean except for recreational pilots, parasailers, hang gliders, ultralights, gyrocopters, and a few I've forgotten. Except for all those hundreds of thousands of people, nobody would be interested in pointless flight. total waste of time.
except that after 25 years of development, the Martin Jetpack continues to not exist (beyond prototypes that don't perform to published theoretical specs). Hell, if we're pitching things that don't exist against things that do, why not run with anti-gravity and trump them all?
someone forces you to give them your garbage? what?