This is IT?

Dave (picked at random) and 8000 other slashdot readers wrote in to tell us that they too had been overcome by the relentless hype machine that is IT, Ginger, Segway, whatever. Read about IT in your favorite hype-dispensing media outlet, each of which thinks that it has an exclusive on the story of IT. Flash diagram of IT. Time. NY Times. Reuters. And don't forget to watch the advertisement, errr, "demonstration" of IT on Good Morning Consumers tomorrow. Update: 12/03 13:37 GMT by T : Segway's webmaster John Grohol points out the segway website as well.

Southpark

[fishebulb]

The southpark version was hilarious
"Well atleast its better than dealing with the airlines"

Just what we need

[Anonymous Coward]

Negative:
Another thing to make Americans more lazy. I mean come on if you cant bring yourself to walk the 25 feet between your living room and bathroom to take a leak, you should be shot. 7 deadly sins - sloth.

Positive:
Necessity breeds innovention. If your 500lbs boss cant seem to walk the distance between his/her limo and office then use Ginger!!!! Think of all the pain on his/her knee joints.

My sig (if i could remember my login): Je m'en fiche!

Ginger...WTF?!?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

Maryann was more of a babe, by far!

Re:Age old technology gets a facelift....

[DAldredge]

Please don't insult Linux, this is Slashdot after all!

Re:I think it's dumb.

[zhensel]

"It looks gay."

Frankly, I don't see how this is possible. As an 'IT', it is neither male nor female and is thus not capable of homosexual activity.

IT -- successor of the banana peel

[iskander]

Apparently, balance is attained with the help of sensors and logic boards and powerful electric motors. I think it'll be fun to watch an IT malfunction (perhaps as a result of a bug in the firmware) or run out of juice while someone is riding it. Will she fall forwards or backwards? In any case, I am sure it will be a very characteristic and, after a while, instantly recognizable motion. IT will be the high-tech version of the banana peel -- instant laugh for everybody who's watching at that fateful moment.

Can't help thinking about Transmeta

[jkovach]

When I look at the hype surrounding this thing, it reminds me of Transmeta. Transmeta had some of the world's brightest computer geeks working on a s3kr1t pr0j3k+ that would change the world, and it turned out to be yet another x86 clone (whoo hoo.) Now there is another company with bright scientists working on a s3kr1t pr0j3k+ that would change the world, and it turns out to be a motorscooter. (whoo hoo.)

Moral of the story: Don't believe the hype.

Re:Why can't anyone see the implications of this?

[Mike Schiraldi]

Does IT run Linux?

;)

Scary Picture

[Alien54]

Just then, Kamen rides up and hands his Segway over to Bezos. As the Amazon boss races madly around the warehouse, hooting and cackling and flapping his arms, someone yells out, "Yo, Jeff, what were you saying about the consumer market?" Whizzing past, Bezos shouts back, "There's definitely at least a consumer market of one!"

Now that's a scary picture

This is IT?

[RQuinn]

Damn it, I was hoping for a child-eating clown

Going in circles

[Camel Pilot]

The flash presentation makes an interesting claim on the motors:

"Two of them drive each wheel independently. Fully redundant. If one fails, the other takes over."

I would like to see this.

Also claims to have 5 Gyro's that "operate by commitee, voting among themselves to eliminate errent readings"

Would this device work in Florida?

Does this make sense???

[pagercam2]

Electric Scooter $3000 or $600 Bike + $2400 Beer.
IT = 8MPH, Bike = 15MPH
IT = no excersize, Bike = 300+ Cal/hr
IT = No beer, Bike 2400 micro brew or 4800 Bud/MGD
IT = requires power, Bike = burn off beer gut (see above)

What it'll do for me

[TomatoMan]

It's not that big a deal, really. All it will do is enable me to:

• Use public transportation again because it solves the mid-range travel problem of getting to/from the bus terminal/train station
• Save about $4000 a year on parking fees in Boston, since I'll be able to put the car out in the burbs somewhere where parking is cheap
• Get around town generating absolutely no pollution

...little things like that. So I don't see what the hype is all about either. I mean come on, it doesn't even fly!

What, No Cupholders...?

[Anonymous Coward]

great! let's create even MORE overweight Americans. the only exercise many lazy Americans get is walking from work to train, work to car, walking in malls, etc...

now, even THAT pitiful regimen is threatened by this little scooter. a cool idea, but we have more pampering than we need in the USA...

Hackable?

[MobyDisk]

This thing is a hacker's dream. It looks quite modern - microprocessors, firmware, etc. Not purely mechanical. The speed limit is set by the circuitry -- which means it is all hackable.

Imagine programming one of these things to spin you around, then accelerate to breakneck speed (perhaps literally) This could be quite fun!

Hmph.

[Chris Johnson]

I guess it _is_ a disappointment, after all.

I had my heart set on it being a twin-turbine personal helicopter :) funny thing is, I had this all worked out to the point where you could damned near build one, all on the basis that Steve Jobs et al wouldn't be fools enough to go ga-ga over a powered scooter.

I'll give 'em this much though: yes, designing cities without cars WILL eventually be necessary. Yes, that will be interesting and challenging and different. But I thought it had to be a lot more exciting, and pulled together loads of detail such as recent developments in titanium production, the capacity of (highly efficient) jet turbines to route their intake and exhaust in very counterintuitive ways, the geometry of a twin-ducted-fan standing platform and how this would be essentially stable and would require hard leaning to get it to move quickly- and even then, wind resistance on the high-mounted fans would mean that the machine would be trying to slow itself at all times, its CG located very low because a human would be standing on the base and their CG would be irrelevant, the orientation of the device would follow the centering effect of the human's weight delivered through the feet...

The only thing even vaguely like this would be the SoloTrek, and just think for a second of how much heavier _that_ monster is than a person- it's really just a mini helicopter, not even the balance issues would apply. As such, so much of its awful power and noise etc. is required simply to lift its own weight, and how much better it would be to use titanium and minimal, balance-oriented controls to make something so feather-light that it's barely heavier than a person, far more capable of urban use...

To top it all off, turbines are ideally suited for just _one_ speed, which is an ideal match for a heli-type device as it would be devoting pretty much every bit of its energy just to hovering, with no engines whatsoever for lateral motion- that would be strictly a matter of leaning in the desired direction like you were in a hang-glider. All this is just _waiting_ to be done, and Kamen has the resources to do it _and_ a background not only in aviation but in helicopters. It seemed so obvious.

Oh well...

IT -- the new darling of injury lawyers everywhere

[iskander]

You said:

If the Segway is allowed on sidewalks, there would be instant competition in the form of conventional electric scooters.

Actually, if the Segway IT were allowed on sidewalks, there would be instant lawsuits, courtesy of conventional injury lawyers. Forget about skateboarders running into old ladies -- IT is gonna be great! "Call 1-800-ITHURTS!" :->

Re:South Park

[matusa]

Yes it did.

The controls were penises, one up your ass and one in your mouth, and they went in/out up/down as you rode it. It had hand controls shaped like penises too (I think).

The whole thing fit inside a large (7-8ft diameter).

It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. I almost died.

He also took an opportunity to criticize the overzealous US government and airlines.

Why I don't trust environmentalists

[ahde]

they think electicity grows on trees

Re:Begging Questions and Urban Planning

[dzurn]

From the TIME article:

By traveling at

three or four times walking speed, and thus turning what would have been a 30-minute walk into a 10-minute ride, Kamen contends, Segways will in effect shrink cities to the point where cars "will not only be undesirable, but unnecessary."

As for weather, here in the Midwest we occasionally use outerware to mitigate the effects of the elements on our epidermis. That comes highly recommended. And your mom told me you should wear a hat, too.

I believe (but haven't seen for myself) that most businesses today are currently wired for "electricity" available at convenient locations we call "outlets". And a space the size of one car-parking spot can probably hold one or maybe up to two of the Segway behemoths.

I really get disappointed when people who are smart in one area ...

Great for a real city (NY) Lousy for post WW2 city

[Ugmo]

I live in NYC. In the 5 boroughs something like this would be great. Places like Hong Kong, downtown London, Chicago, small cities in Italy, any REAL city where people actually walk around, this would be great.
Places like LA, Phoenix, suburban Long Island where there are no pedestrians anyway would not be suitable for this.
The TIME article said that speeds of 3-4 times walking speed would be normal.

In NYC bike messengers already get around the city faster than cars. I see doctors and 60 year old women go through the Village on those Razor scooters. Parking spaces cost more to rent per month than whole houses do in other parts of the country. I go weeks without driving now and didn't own a car until I moved out of NYC temporarily for a few years. Cars in NYC are evil and most people avoid them. A reliable, speedy machine that takes up about the same space as a person would be very welcome.

As for price, Give it 5 or 10 years and it will be down around a few hundred dollars. In the expensive bike range. Not to mention the used market.
Of course by then GM or Ford will get into the market and we will have SUV Gingers that weigh 10 tons, run on gasoline and have ostrich skin leather heated bucket seats.

IT Patent Invalidated By Prior Art

[istartedi]

IT was already invented by Johnny Hart, author of the comic strip BC. The prior art is plainly visible in the upper right hand corner of this picture [wghsuccess.com], has been available for quite some time, and appears regularly in newspapers and online.

Amen!

[SaDan]

Can't wait to tear one of these apart and start on my first Battle Mech.

Of course, if my Battle Mech can't go faster than 8mph, I'm dead meat. :-/

I guess I'll have to figure out how to water cool the processing units and OVERCLOCK!

Now... Where did I leave that brochure on energy weapons...

media hype outlet?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Read about IT in your favorite hype-dispensing media outlet"

Yeah! Like Slashdot!

Re:It's a damn scooter

[Anonymous Coward]

>Why the HELL would you live anywhere where it gets to -40 degrees?!?!?!

I dunno.

Maybe its because:

- There's no DMCA there.
- You can "steal" satellite TV and the cops will help you do it (if you offer them a beer).
- For at least a few more days we'll be more free than the US. :)
- You can legally go to a friends house and copy his entire CD collection.
- Moving there now gets you twice the bux!
- They don't fry you no matter how bad you are! (this is good and bad depending on your position)
- You can't disco in a touque!
- 4
- Our heads separate into two pieces!
- You don't need to avoid nuts on scooters all day.
- You get fingercise rotating products to read the english side.
- You don't need to lock your car if its frozen shut.
- Computer parts are dirt cheap.
- Vous ne worry pas about votre leader starting wars if dey can't speak dat international language.
- Beer!
- Pitou!
- CBC! ;)

Then again, I suppose he could be from Alaska.

Nahhh.

Runs on..

[Anonymous Coward]

It must run on Linux:

Also a cluster of aviation-grade gyros, an accelerometer, a bevy of sensors, two batteries and software so sophisticated it puts Microsoft to shame.

Nevermind, it could run on anything.

A Dissapointment

[asv108]

Its almost the 2002! I was promised flying cars. Where are the flying cars?

How cool is this guy?

[RainbowSix]

He also owns an island off the coast of Connecticut. He calls it North Dumpling, and he considers it a sovereign state. It has a flag, a navy, a currency (one bill has the value of pi) and a mutual nonaggression pact with the U.S., signed by Kamen and the first President Bush

I don't care what "IT" is, Kamen owns an island with a monetary denomination of pi!

Re:Why can't anyone see the implications of this?

[Ian Schmidt]

The article mentions "software which puts Microsoft to shame", so it could be running Linux. Or any of a number of other things.

Re:Less cool at $3000

[zerocool^]

ok, i kind of feel lazy even pointing this out, but...

The revolutionary aspect of this thing is that yeah it has gyroscopes and all that shtuff, but in reality, it is "walking for the lazy man" and is related to this product [theonion.com]. The implecations of this aren't fantastic, and its not gonna change the world, but anything that makes a lazy man's life less mobile is worth.... something..... i dunno, you finish my post for me...

~z

as a member of the homosexual community

[Anonymous Coward]

I assure you that it does not look "gay". We design some of the nicest, most fashionable interiors, clothes, and devices you are likely to come across. We dress and undress the champions and heroes of this nation. Something as plain and silly as "IT" must have been designed by a heterosexual.

Announcing iSlink-Ginger.com! Oooh!

[piecewise]

Year One:
Something wicked this way comes...

Year Two:
It's called... mysteriously... IT... Ooooh!!!

Year Two and a Half:
Remember Gilligan's Island? It's now called GINGER. Ooooh! But does it REALLY have to do with the classic TV show? Or doesn't it? Wait to find out! Oooooh!

Year Three:
It's a "human moving device." Ooooh what could that mean? Ooooooh!

Year Three and a Month:
Europeans think it's a really good idea! So does Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos! Ooooooooh!

Year Three and two Months:
Oooooooohh!!!

Year Three and three Months:
It's been cancelled.... no just kidding, it's still gonna come out! Tricked 'ya! What is it what is it what is it come on guess!! Ooooh!

Year Three and four Months:
The inventor of this also invented... the slinky!! Ooooh! Is it a slinky scooter? A slinky flying car? A slinky Jetsons-mobile? Is it George Jetson himself playing with a slinky AND Ginger? Ooooh!

The day it comes out:
Good Morning America!
It's a... well... it's a used Moped, to be perfectly honest.. autographed by Ginger from Gilligan's island, comes with an iPod, a gift card to amazon.com, and has a slinky logo on it. It costs $3000 and runs on double-A's that last 3 minutes... so..

....

Ooooooooohh!!!!!

Re:Hackable?

[Moonshadow]

Yeah, just wait till Segway/KillKillKill.FlashROM comes out.

Recognize when a user wants to stop and accelerate them to 90 MPH.

We'll have assassins running around with ROM flashers. Yeesh.

Someone HAS to say it...

[Anonymous Coward]

Regarding the gyroscopes and self-balancing aspects, from arstechnica.com:

"Pulling off this trick requires an unholy amount of computer power. In every Segway there are 10 microprocessors cranking out three PCs' worth of juice."

10 CPUs? Hey, these things have a built-in beowulf cluster!

Maybe we can hack linux on these things, so when you're not riding around anywhere, it can run SETI@home in background mode.

*hide*

---

I'm not a real anonymous coward, I just play one on TV.

Re:Definately Disapointing

[dragonfly_blue]

I really get disapointed

disappointed.

when yet another reactionery

reactionary.

and empty post from a 14-year-old who cant

can't.

spell counts as "insightfull"

insightful.

on Slahsdot

Slashdot.

-- definately

definitely.

stirs my grits.

Can't say I disagree. Pot, kettle. Kettle, pot.

Re:Just what we need

[FIGJAM]

Japanese are the laziest bastards on earth
"ahh just eat the fish raw"

"dynamic stability"

[Doktor Memory]

Can't you see that a vehicle which uses Dynamic Stability to be driven as an extension of your own body movements is a great innovation?

What, you mean like... a bicycle? Or roller skates?

Hell, I drive my car via an extension of my own body movements. I call this miraculous technology "the steering wheel."

Stillborn

[rve]

This invetion will go the way of the Sinclair horizontal bike.

It is awkward, expensive, makes you look like a dork, and isn't really more useful than something you already had.

Mind you, I'm never wrong about these things. When the CD-ROM was invented, I accurately predicted we would never hear from such a useless invention again. After all, it was more expensive than the PC you plug it in, and all of that for half a GB of read only data, while no one could have any conceivable use for read only data.

I also accurately predicted that Java would be just a fad. After all, who would need a slow interpreted platform independant language while only one platform would exist a few years on.

this time I'm right tho.

THE BRAKES! THE BRAKES!

[Colin Smith]

As far as I can see, it's designed to make you fall over when you hit the brakes. Either that or you just go ahead and plough into that old granny at 20mph anyway[1].

Copenhagen airport has push scooters, you see people whizzing up and down the the airport. Very weird.

[1] Grannies are 50 points you know.

hacking the Segway

[Teratogen]

Do you think it can be hacked to run linux?

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

[Anonymous Coward]

While they say IT monitors your balance, it realy uses the FORCE. By using IT, you will develop your abilities to use the FORCE. IT will eventualy help us become a race of superbeings. Prety amazing IMO.

fuxored DNS

[Anonymous Coward]

$ host www.segway.com
www.segway.com CNAME http://www.segway.com.edgesuite.net
http://www.segway.com.edgesuite.net does not exist, try again

www.segway.com is a CNAME to a URL! I wonder what idiot admin fucked that one up. And on their big day, too. It was working for me for an hour or two, but it just broke again...

Re:What it'll do for me

[biohazard99]

I'm pleased that there are some realists amongst the enviromentalist front, but unfortunately, you suffer the same fate as I do as a conservative. The general perception is that I must be cold, heartless, and could give a rats arse about anything but my bank account.

Oh well, at 3-8 grand a pop for a bicycle replacement, I don't see it takeing off, but perhaps if they could work them into the X-games, they might take off with the in the 'burbs.

so then I can say to my grandkids

[kollaps]

In my day, we actually had to *walk* 5 miles up a hill to get to college

Alternative

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey if you want to be lazy and look like a dork the product for you already exists, and is about $2,500 cheaper. Get one of these babies [sharperimage.com], and the chicks will point and laugh just as if you were on a IT.

You still won't burn any calories in your 10 block trek to your office, and you'll be a menace to pedestrains. This piece of crap even weighs less than the other piece of crap! So it will be easier on your portly self lugging it over the bump in the evevator.

With the extra $2,500 you can buy lots of twinkies and ho-hos, and still have enough left to set up a 802.11b wireless network so you can use your laptop while on the head, you'll need it because of all the twinkies and ho-ho's.

Re:[OT] Slurs

[Lars T.]

To quote a German politician (on 9/11): "Today we are all Americans."

Why it costs four grand

[Anonymous Coward]

I know exactly why they flew Steve Jobs out to see the thing: they wanted advice on how to price it!

Kamen: Well, Steve, what do you think we should charge people for this thing. We were thinking that a pricve tag of about five hundred...

Steve: Wait, wait! Are you kidding me? No one will buy it for that price. They'll think they're not getting anything. You want people to think that this thing is the greatest product in the world. Charge them a premium, say, four thousand dollars, and the money will come pouring in.

Re:Available on Amazon ...... sort of.........

[spudnic]

You missed the best part of the Amazon product page:

Customers who shopped for this item also shopped for these items:

* Playboy (1994) VHS ~ Ginger Lynn Allen
* Girls Gone Crazy DVD
* Invincible, Michael Jackson
* Corporate Cults by Dave Arnott

ha-ha...

[SethJohnson]

Out of this cloud of

retards [mulletsgalore.com] who couldn't recognize / understand a reference to Big Lebowski comes this brilliant piece of absurdist humor. My hat is tipped to you, Lars.

hack IT

[rwaldin]

First, I have to say, very cool. I saw the demo this morning and I can't wait to buy one.

Inevitably, people will hack these things as they do everything else. How would you trick your's out? Here's some ideas:

1. Big IT - off-road monster IT with knobby tires for crushing cars
2. Stretch IT - six axles, a wet bar, and a hot tub
3. Lowrider IT - hydraulics for tilting and jumping
4. Booming IT - ridiculously loud Tonka sound system on a trailer
5. Retro IT - no wheels, no motor, just walk