OT: "IT" finally revealed?

[Shuxclams]

A year of wondering, a year of quotes like "cities will be built around 'IT'" and it's a scooter? Lame














SHUX

 

[Wiz]

shhh ... It is the salvation of our tech economy ... right?

Yeah, I wanna plunk down 3 G's for a scooter. Yeah, it should replace car traffic here, yeah, right.
Nice toy, but 3G's for a smaller less featured unit around the end of 2002? WHat do you do when it rains? snow??

 

[Baldy18]

or if you want to go more than 12 miles/hour. /me snickers

Would be a good idea in cities like New York if you could somehow convince everyone to sell their cars, move within 25 miles of where they work, and have gas stations and businesses install batery chargers. /me snickers again

 

[JWMiddleton]

Looks interesting! And if it rains?

 

[Wiz]

Amazed no one has brought this up yet....

So I hope Dnet & Seti & Eccp are already developing DC clients for IT

 

[narzy]

A: snow, rain, bad weather will be solved by a shell, its a good idea for A) people who cant drive B) getting around a compact town, downtown. personally I like the idea, I do think the price is steep, however I belive it will come down. plus "iT" looks cool

 

[DarkMajiq]

Pfff... All that hype, and this is it? Gimme a break! *rolls his eyes*

 

[Rendus]

<< A: snow, rain, bad weather will be solved by a shell, its a good idea for A) people who cant drive B) getting around a compact town, downtown. personally I like the idea, I do think the price is steep, however I belive it will come down. plus "iT" looks cool >>


This would be a nightmare for any place that has a large volume of people in a small place. Have you walked around, say, downtown Las Vegas on a busy night? You have a whole bunch of idiots who don't care if they run into you, run over you or knock you over. Now imagine some jackass going twice walking speed on this thing (that ends up being about 1.5 times the width of a normal person) doing the same thing. It'll only make things worse.

For your average idiot, oftentimes walking is too confusing because things happen too fast. The LAST thing we need to do is physically accelerate these people.

 

[networkman]

Flame me if you like, but personally, I don't see this thing as any more than a novelty used in niche areas.

Still, the technology is impressive, and I can see it being used in a successive line of more practical inventions.

 

[Smoke]

Well, finally something to take the place of these dang cars. Let's see, I could get rid of my LS400 and my Grand Edition S500 and buy computers....Yeah, that'll be the way to go.

What did you say? What am I gonna do about rain, sleet, snow, 12 bags of groceries, towing my boat? OH well, on second thought.................

can I have my cars back?

But it does sound like something RaySun2Be could use. I'm tired of picking him up after he has flipped his "Little Rascal" taking those turns too fast. Of course they would need to make a model he could "sit down" in.

And they cost $3,000? I know a lot of folks can't wait to "pick" one of these things up...and I'm not talking about "buying" one.

 

[RaySun2Be]

<But it does sound like something RaySun2Be could use. I'm tired of picking him up after he has flipped his "Little Rascal" taking those turns too fast. Of course they would need to make a model he could "sit down" in.>

And where would I put my cane holster?


For $3,000 I could build some nice PCs, and still get around on my Red Rascal.....

 

[Logix]

Here's a good story that highlights some of the problems I see with the "Segway" (highlights below):

What if ?IT? just isn?t all that?

It?s easy to imagine a cackling Jeff Bezos scootering around Amazon.com?s warehouse on IT. IT?s status as the coolest toy on the block is probably already guaranteed. But will it compete with the automobile for cherished consumer basic transportation spending? There are many obstacles between here and there.

[*]It?s 65-80 pounds. You aren?t going to carry it upstairs to your office, like a bike. Will you be comfortable leaving your $3,000 scooter on the bike rack?
[*]12 miles per hour might not seem that fast. But what if two IT riders collide? That?s at least 24 mph of force; broken bones are sure to follow.
[*]Knowing myself, and my sense of balance, despite Kamen?s claim to the contrary I am quite certain I could fall off of IT. Letting go of the handlebars would no doubt do the trick.
[*]It?s not a car, so it doesn?t need to be roadworthy, Kamen?s team argues. Good, because motorized scooter are already illegal in places like Seattle, and Baldwin, Mo. So IT will ride of the sidewalk. What sidewalk, I wonder? Kids with foot-powered scooters are already considered a nuisance by some. Imagine a IT rider flying up behind you, squeezing by you, maybe even knocking groceries from your surprised hands.
[*]Meanwhile, IT riders will be forced to drive at, well, walking pace wherever there is a crowd. Why would you pay $3,000 for that?

[snip]

Then there?s the all-important mundane considerations. Where?s the cupholders? Can you sip a latte while scooting along? If not, forget the Seattle market. Will you be able to hear the radio? In New York, people would rather drive and listen to Imus. And, um, I know Gortex is warm and dry, but I still wouldn?t want to be riding this thing to work in New England in February.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I fail to see "IT's" advantage over a bicycle or recline or other man-powered cycles for the average bloke. A bike doesn't require anything but you for energy unless ofcourse your such a lardass that peddaling is repulsive to you :disgust: I read that Steve Jobs had invested some of his own money in "IT" and was convinced that much like the computer it would change society. Personally, I think he's ready to embrace anything as slow and expensive as an Apple

 

[Logix]

Snipet from the article above about Steve Jobs:

...But will IT change the world, as Apple?s Steve Jobs suggests? Perhaps Jobs? experience on such matters is the most instructive ? technology he invented has changed the world, albeit much slower, and much cheaper, and with much less drama then he planned. Oh, and another company ended up making all the money.

 

[bot2600]

Give it a nuclear power source so I don't have to recharge, a warp drive so I can go as fast as I want, and a phase inverter so I can go through objects and not feel the wind/weather and I will spend $3000 for it.

Bot

 

[PieDerro]

Give it time to fall in price, and it may hang around for more than a few years I'd say! Ideal for city commuting

 

[ColinP]

Another problem I see would be that I know I cant stand still for more than a few minutes, my legs ache, back etc.... We are constantly moving even when stood still. Try that on IT......



Col

 

[Ken g6]

(that's an amused grin)

Here in Boulder we basically use bikes instead of IT already. We have the infrastructure for bikes, bike paths and lanes, and there was at least one guy using a motorized scooter on them once, so a few of these are bound to show up. I think the best thing that could come out of IT would be "IT"-paths in cities that bikes could use too.

Edit: Apparently, IT is supposed to be able to go as slow as pedestrians. But I do that all the time on my bike. And since I can make up to 20MPH on my bike on a flat stretch, so I'm not going for IT anytime soon.

 

[m0ti]

Actually, I could see it being used in places like Taiwan, where scooters are widepsread (I'm talking about the less powerful motorcycle kind), and pollution is a problem.

In any case the price will come down.

The two main problems that I see with it are that it weighs 80 lbs (umm, yeah. take it to school and stow it in your locker???), and that 17 km may not be enough for a single day's use (can you imagine being stuck in the middle of nowhere due to a dead battery).

 

[Sukhoi]

I was never expecting much due to all the hype, and I'm happy to report that I was right.

Edit: Smokeball, I would be happy to take that S500 off your hands! :Q:Q