[Xevion]

Well, here it is.
http://www.time.com/time/business/ar...186660,00.html

Looks about like what I expected, which is to say quite nifty. Of course it won't meet all the hype, but I could see them becoming very common in the next decade.

 

[Gluegun]

I WANT ONE!!!!!

*clicks the "inside the Segwey" thingy*

 

[PC Corp]

I don't think it will "rock" the world. First of all, the bike from the picter should be faster, and more fun too. Second, the ladies from the picture cannot free their hands to see if they need more "makeup" of now. Third, it's not small enough. If you go shopping, will you bring it with you into the store? Finding a space to "park" them will not be easy. Finally, It's not weather friendly.

My last word, not convenient enough.

 

[Tim D]

Eh, right now I'm assuming that its slower than a bike, but about as fast as a fast stride. Looks like something for busy metropolitan cities with lots of pedestrian traffic. Cept heavy pedestrian traffic is often very compact which this might not be.

Absolutely great for handicapped or elderly(course I don't think it'd appeal at all to elderly). But living in SoCal where things are spread out...for it to be really convenient it still has to go faster than I'm really thinking it can go.

Definitely cool though.

 

[andrzejpw]

omg, that looks soooo cool. Next year . . . hmmm, junior in high school . . . damn! I'll have my license by then . . .

 

[cajunchrist]

My thoughts...

I'm also is SoCal, and I don't see widescale practical applications in any city that is designed like L.A. (which is to say, most). Cities that are compact enough for practical use (New York, San Francisco) will have too much pedestrian traffic for a user to go any faster than foot traffic, so the benefit will be minimal, unless its used to travel long distances without fatigue, like the USPS for mail delivery. Couriers can use them in cities to make quick downtown dropoffs, maybe pizza places will use them for local deliveries (under 2 miles).

But with a projected 3000 dollar price tag and a weight of 65 lbs. (i.e. too heavy for the average person to carry on to the subway during rush hour), I have no idea who other than well-off technophiles or companies with good-sized investment budgets that can afford them, given their limited uses.

That being said, I think the technology driving them is what Dean Kamen is really interested in developing. The Stirling Engine may not be advanced enough to power a house or a factory, but designing a practical application for a small one (powerful enough to drive a scooter) will give him much needed real-world test time to work out bugs and get seed money to develop bigger engines that could eventually power cars.

cajunchrist

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

I'm also is SoCal, and I don't see widescale practical applications in any city that is designed like L.A. (which is to say, most).

Actually, very few cities have been "designed" like LA. It's practically an enigma among urban planners, due to its lack of a concentrated urban center and vast land spread (it's the largest city in the world, area-wise.

In more traditional cities, I could definitely see these things becoming alternatives to cars (apart from the weather factor

)

 

[dhwilkin]

Quote:

Tim D said... Eh, right now I'm assuming that its slower than a bike, but about as fast as a fast stride.

According to the Time article, it can go up to 3-4 times faster than a fast walk. So still slower than somebody going fast on a bike, but (supposedly) much safer.

Like I said in a post in another thread, I could definitely see a market for something like this on college campuses and places like Disney World. For more general usage, the weather factor and finding a place to park it (bike rack, maybe?

) are definite problems that need to be addressed.

 

[KR...]

More info and a video can be found here :
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/Tech/Ginger/

 

[gorgon_123]

the latest word from me: you probably shouldn't comment on it if you haven't seen it in action - for that check out KR's link for some video. it's pretty rad, though for $3000 i'm not sure how useful...

 

[mc whak]

I think it'll make more sense for people who have walkers or trouble walking in general.

 

[shivohum]

I would read this before getting too excited.

 

[gorgon_123]

shivohum... you honestly think crime will increase due to the segway? come on. it's a toy for yuppies, not a getaway car.

 

[dngl]

I'm kind of pissed off that the media would hype a battery powered scooter.

Well, not pissed off in the absolute sense, but...

 

[cajunchrist]

Quote:

Actually, very few cities have been "designed" like LA. It's practically an enigma among urban planners, due to its lack of a concentrated urban center and vast land spread (it's the largest city in the world, area-wise.

It's a misnomer to assume that Los Angeles does not have a city center. It does. It has a downtown that is the equivalent of any other city's downtown (get called for jury duty in L.A. and THEN tell me it doesn't have a center!)

The southern California area that most people generically refer to as Los Angeles is actually a collection of small cities, like Santa Monica, Compton, Long Beach, Inglewood, Pasadena, Malibu, Beverly Hills, etc., of which Los Angeles is the largest. Orange County is also generically lumped in to the geography of Los Angeles, and it is its own county, politically independent of Los Angeles. Most major cities in other areas simply don't have as many small cities in their general vicinity to connect via freeways, so from a map they don’t look like L.A. But in terms of suburban sprawl (read: San Fernando Valley) L.A. is most certainly the model that most cities are following, if not by overt city planning choice, then by individual choice of citizens. Most parents are looking for a non city-like environment to raise their kids and singles are looking to escape expensive inner-city rent. So, they put up with a long commute for relative peace and quiet and inexpensive living.

Thus, I don’t think that a battery powered scooter, no matter how high-tech, is going to be capable of transforming the way American cities look, at least not for several decades. The market Kamen is focusing on is emerging markets in China and other places where cities are not well developed, and the scooter can be integrated in to the city plans before they get big. With lessons learned in these markets, American city planners can start expanding bike lanes for two way scooter traffic and develop various ways to control traffic for both cars and scooters in an integrated fashion to make it easier to use them on the roads.

That is, if anyone actually wants to ride the thing on a regular basis. These scooters will have to be priced at <$1000 for them to be a viable alternative to cars IMO.

cajunchrist