What is 'IT'? 554
From "Service Call," a short story by Philip K. Dick:
The young man flushed, swallowed noisily, tried to grin, and then hurried on huskily, "Sir, I'm the repairman you asked for; I'm here to fix your swibble."
The facetious retort that came to Courtland's mind was one that later on he wished he had used. "Maybe," he wished he had said, "I don't want my swibble fixed. Maybe I like my swibble the way it is." But he didn't say that. Instead, he blinked, pulled the door in slightly, and said, "My what?"
"Yes, sir," the young man persisted. "The record of your swibble installation came to us as a matter of course. Usually we make an automatic adjustment inquiry, but your call preceded that -- so I'm here with complete service equipment. Now, as to the nature of your particular complaint..." Furiously, the young man pawed through the sheaf of papers on his clipboard. "Well, there's no point in looking for that; you can tell me orally. As you probably know, sir, we're not officially part of the vending corporation ... we have what is called an insurance-type coverage that comes into existence automatically, when your purchase is made. Of course, you can cancel the arrangement with us." Feebly, he tried a joke. "I have heard there're a couple of competitors in the service business."
Stern morality replaced humor. Pulling his lank body upright, he finished, "But let me say that we've been in the swibble repair business ever since old R.J. Wright introduced the first A-driven experimental model."
For a time, Courtland said nothing. Phantasmagoria swirled through his head: random quasi-technological thoughts, reflex evaluations and notations of no importance. So swibbles broke down, did they? Big-time business operations ... send out a repairman as soon as the deal is closed. Monopoly tactics ... squeeze out the competition before they have a chance. Kickback to the parent company, probably. Interwoven books.
[...]
A swibble. What the hell was a swibble? And he was on the in, industrially speaking. He read U.S. News, the Wall Street Journal. If there was a swibble he would have heard about it -- unless a swibble was some pip-squeak gadget for the home. Maybe that was it.
You can find this story in The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, Volume 4: The Minority Report.
Thoughtfully, he added, "In fact I'd say the real war was a war over swibbles. I mean, it was the last war. It was the war between the people who wanted swibbles and those who didn't." Complacently, he finished, "Needless to say, we won."
here to there with nothing in between (Score:2)
Won't be released until 2002, eh? (Score:2)
OT: minicopters should have foldable wings (Score:2)
Due to repeated reports on
They have a bunch of severe problems:
1. control
I suppose it's a lot harder to fly a vehicle than to drive one. Especially if it's light, and there's going to be hundreds of them flying around above and between city buildings. More so in bad weather.
It would be quite a system that could automatically overcome this.
2. Power
It takes extreme amounts of energy to fight the gravitation. This could be solved by slider-like, foldable wings. Take-off and landing should be vertical to reduce ground area requirements. Once airborne, you should be able to slide.with the wings opened and engine(s) turned horizontal.
A little negativity injection... (Score:3)
Personal Transport (hover/copter/sterling-driven/bike/scooter/wheelch air/backpack) has no chance of generating $60 billion in 5 years at $2k a pop. In order for it to make that much money, pretty much everybody in America needs to buy one. In order for that to happen, it needs to be a 100% replacement for a car, because most people will not spend two grand on a second vehicle in addition to their car.
Cars protect from the elements (rain, cold, etc); they provide some protection in accidents (metal frame, air bags, seat belts, etc); they allow you to carry passengers and luggage; they can travel at high speeds (as in >30 MPH) over long distances; they are hard for a non-expert theif to steal.
Given that criteria, a personal craft that can not take you from L.A. to Vegas at 70 MPH, be driven comfortably through Detroit in January, and crash into a garbage truck head-on without killing you... will never replace cars, and therefore will be nothing more than a toy for yuppies and the "Earth First" crowd.
Teleporter - The problem I have always had with sci-fi transport devices is that they don't actually move you. They disintigrate you and then replicate you. Most of us would rather not be destroyed and simultaniously replaced with a copy that has our memories. Also, it can't be done with current knowledge.
Power generation - I could see that becoming a popular option. A lot of home-owners, including me, would have gone solar a long time ago if it was cheap enough. However, nobody can make $60 billion in the home appliance market. The margins are simply not high enough, and if they were you would face stiff competition within a year or two. Also, most urban dwellers live in apartments, where power and utility costs are usually hidden in their rent payments.
Waste Disposal / Water Delivery / etc. faces the same problems as the generator theories.
It seems to me that for "IT" to live up to the hype, it must be something that none of us have thought of, or ever thought we would want. After all, nobody thought we would want to do our computing with a mouse-driven GUI before the XEROX engineers thought of it, and nobody thought they could sell one until Jobs visited PARC labs... but now it is hard to imagine selling any sort of client software without it.
Re:IT... (Score:2)
If some CalTech physicist came up with viable fuel cells, do you think Exxon would finance his research & marketing? If someone from CERN produced a useful & net-positive fusion reactor, do you think the various power companies, with their existing plants and related revenues, would be willing to change course and throw their resources behind this research.
Or here's one -- if some kids came up with a robust, scalable, powerful operating system in their spare time, do you think Microsoft would adopt it, or would they do everything they can to neutralize it?
Sad to say, I think this happens all the time...
Re:Kamen = Galt? (Score:2)
(of course, I finally get to read this long after the discussion has died down.
Nah, it's not enough. (Score:2)
It doesn't have GPS
It doesn't have the ability to communicate with other TurboScooters
It doesn't have a palm device for information gathering and realy
It does have a tracking module, to allow for caravans and auto navigation
It doesn't have the physical hooks to allow daisychaining of scooters together.
Geek dating! [bunnyhop.com]
To quote Faith No More (Score:4)
It's It
What is it
It's it
What is it
Re:I want IT! (Score:2)
What a bunch of morons there are over at Apple... yeah...
Kintanon
Re:OK, I'll go on record with a detailed guess (Score:2)
On the bright side, turbine jets have a reliability rate an order of magnitude better than reciprocating internal combustion engines- there isn't much _to_ fail. Flameouts can happen if you slam on high power suddenly resulting in a turbine stall- remember this design would be optimised for a lower rate of speed in the first place, I think it would be not that hard to eliminate the risk of a turbine stall within such a limited operating range. Unlike a 747 turbine, a portable heli turbine would not _have_ to go from 0 to 700 mph, and would not have to have the capability to dump that much fuel in that you could stall the turbines (early 747 engines suffered from a behavior that when you pushed the throttles forward firmly, you got a huge bang and a turbine stall- they had to bring up the engine speed more smoothly with throttle interlocks to avoid this, because of the huge difference in fuel flow and thrust between low and high power)
I think the idea with IT (sticking with my original guess on its identity) must be, "Limit maneuverability to 'stable and gentle' and increase the engine's reliability until it's waaaay beyond the average reliability of, say, car engines/TIRES/brakes/steering linkages etc".
It'd be a hard _sell_, but the actual engineering problem is nowhere near as hard. It's not that much of a problem to produce a jet turbine that is orders of magnitude more reliable than, say, a car. The very light duty requirements and materials such as titanium would only make this easier.
Won't matter unless it's fast. (Score:2)
So, as long as this trend continues, it will all be about speed. You need to keep going faster to keep moving farther away from the problems (crime, pollution, poor schools, lower property values) of those living closer in. It's no accident (ahem) that the 55 mph limit was lifted in the US, as people try to live farther away from central cities, but still want to get there in the same time. Same thing for road rage, "tier 1 suburbs" decaying, sprawl, etc.
So, until something reverses this trend, say, light industries built in autonomous small towns, accompanied by small-scale power plants and made possible by information technology and shattered corporations (all of this is starting to happen, BTW), a clean personal transport won't matter.
Unless, of course, you're suggesting these things can "dock" in bigger vehicles that go 100mph (trains?), and/or have rollbars and harnesses.
All that said, I'd love to own one, if it's what you describe, which it pretty much has to be.
Re:The meaning of IT (Score:2)
Not sure how to read this. How could a scooter/car/whatever be fun? Perhaps the mention of a hover device awhile ago (they've been available for years) could look 'fun' when activated.
The invention could be fun if it suddenly stood up when turned on! Imagine that it is a one or two wheeled scooter that was laying down on the floor and when turned on the handlebars or whatever suddenly rised up as the wheels spinned to stabilize the darned thing!?!
Could this be the future web site of IT? (Score:2)
http://www.indetech.com/ [indetech.com]
The site is called "Independence Technology" or could that be short for IT? Remember that Johnson and Johnson is going to be selling the iBot for DEKA.
For the latest news on IT see... (Score:2)
Looks like someone cracked.
"Dean's two-wheel balancing device is really cool," said Dr. Wise Young, director of the W. M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience at Rutgers University. "It zooms around like lightning just by standing on it and leaning forward or backwards. The battery is the platform. Using it is totally intuitive. It will require reorganization of sidewalks because there will be people zooming all over cities with it."
Read the complete article. [wired.com]
Re:Seriously... (Score:2)
Damn, I need to track down my college friend who went off to work for Dean doing the US FIRST thing. Maybe he knows...
Re:What IT Is And Isn't (Score:2)
I think you're right. At least on the transportation part. Hopefully it does turn out to be super clean and super cool.
But what kind of transportation is it? Assembled from parts carried in two large duffel bags? Sounds like personal transportation rather than a large multiperson vehicle. Is it some sort of kickass, Internet-guided scooter?
And what does IT stand for? I---- Transport?
--
Re:Personal Helicopter? (Score:2)
1) Is it legal? This would have to be treated as an personal vehicle, but not necessary a aircraft, so you would need additional laws for "driver's" licenses, vehicle registration, speed/ceiling limits, safe flying zones, and so on and so on.
2) Retrofitting cities. You would need a completely different infrastructure to support these; hangars/landing pads, traffic paths or throughways marked. This is assuming, of course, that this vehicle is gas-powered; we might need a whole new power/fuel distribution system to keep this things of the air.
3) Dirty, noisy, etc. As one other poster said, "that's either cars or dogs". And we already have electronic dogs.
4) Mega corp interference. Personal helicopters are going to make this guy RICH because I want one!
5) Building them with a screwdriver/hex wrench/carry it in. It this guy can build a wheelchair that climbs stairs (which would need a very high power-to-mass ratio to haul someone's ass up stairs), then I bet he could apply that kind of power-to-mass ratio to a personal chopper. Building it simply and quickly means it probably is a sturdy pre-fab; not unlike the new scooters/mopeds that are/were the rage.
Re:IT... (Score:5)
That patent would seem to suggest you're on the right track . . .
brazil? (Score:2)
Gee, the story seems much more like it's derived straight from Brazil [imdb.com].
Re:Suspicious...but interested--An idea! (Score:2)
The technology is there to make personal helicopter-like hovercrafts for about the same price as cars. It'll never happen, and any pilot will tell you why. Adding a third dimension adds about a factor of 100x in complexity. Most people will never be willing to learn to fly, especially for their daily commute.
I also don't think that an incredibly smart autopilot (which I also think is possible) would solve problems: You can't build highways as easily in the sky, even if you're being controlled by a computer.
Still, it's probably the most likely suggestion I've heard so far. Interesting...
It MUST BE dogs! (Score:2)
One interesting aside is that a cursory web search reveals that this cartoon has launched an entire genre of research, ranging from papers on Far Side semiotics at:
http://www.mtsu.edu/~dlavery/farside.htm
to a class project on writing a finite state machine to translate text into Ginger-speak.
Failing that, a personal hovercraft wouldn't be all that far away from the FAA's current SATS (Small Aircraft Transportation System) effort, which reads a lot like "An aircraft in every garage." Here's a paper on training issues associated with this system, which is supposed to fly in lower minimums than present IFR traffic, with pilots who know less about flying than at present. If that doesn't scare you, check out the rest of the proposed features:
http://www.academy.jccbi.gov/iats/session5b3.ht
www.crushthecorporatemarkatroids.com (Score:2)
Maybe we'll all get lucky and IT wont be bullshit and marketing - maybe it will be something wonderfull - something beyond consumer crap and markatroid drivel... God knows we need something to clear out the underbrush... these are some very serious statments (vauge but lofty).. my only worry is that Jeff "One Click IP $WHORE$" Bezos has anything to do with IT
Maybe IT is a patent for air -- and the 'design changes' required to accomidate IT simply have to do with metering all of our useage
Re:A Mode of Transportation (Score:2)
Like rush-hour traffic, teenage mating rituals, and car worship?
>but some billion-dollar old-line companies.
Like Ford, GMC, Dodge, Honda, Volkswagen?
> profoundly affect our environment and the way
> people live worldwide.
NO MORE ROADS! And if we need to go overland, we can just use that off-road wheelchair! Oh, we are assuming this vehicle is cleaner than a car.
Let's use the USPTO to our advantage (Score:5)
- 6,092,249 - Constant pressure seating system [164.195.100.11]
- 6,062,600 - Anti-tipping mechanism [164.195.100.11]
- 6,062,023 - Cnatilevered crankshaft stirling cycle machine [164.195.100.11]
- 5,975,225 - Transportation vehicles with stability enhancement ising CG modification [164.195.100.11]
- 5,971,091 - Transportation vehicles and methods [164.195.100.11]
- 5,794,730 - Indication system for vehicles [164.195.100.11]
- 5,791,425 - Control loop for transportation vehicles [164.195.100.11]
- 5,701,965 - Human transporter [164.195.100.11]
- 5,522,568 - Position stick with automatic trim control [164.195.100.11]
Hope this helps someone figure it out...IT... (Score:4)
Can be assembled quickly with hex wrenches and a screwdriver...
That makes me think of a pair of rollerblades, or one of those scooter thingies!
2 models, the metro and the pro; Just those naming conventions make me think of rollerblades or scooters, too, with the metro being an economical version, and the pro with additional bells and whistles...
And the invention will "profoundly affect our environment and the way people live worldwide. It will be an alternative to products that are dirty, expensive, sometimes dangerous and often frustrating, especially for people in the cities."
It sounds like he's describing something both economical and ecological, as an alternative to... cars? Buses?
I'm thinking... electrical scooters or rollerblades, that can be chained together, like links!
Say, something like a shopping cart sized device, allowing one to sit or stand, with safe and clean electrical power, allowing one to move at, say, 10mph for 25 or 35 miles?
Able to link and chain, to create caravans...
It'll confound people because it isn't quite a car, nor a sidewalk friendly device...
And it'll be definitely fun!
Also, it could have an additional contact strip, to draw power, inductively, from embedded power strips!
Geek dating! [bunnyhop.com]
Re:Wow... (Score:2)
If Steve Jobs says this, he just might be on to something. But how many things have been trumpeted as "PC replacements" in the past, oh, ten years?
Jobs didn't say it would replace PC's, he said it is "as significant as the PC." Big diff...
Batteries not included... some assembly required. (Score:2)
We can only guess at what this genius is cooking up - but, he is definately a man who could do it. We'll just have to wait and see what IT is. Maybe we could get the Chinese to help us out a bit? I wonder if DEKA is hiring engineers?
From Dictionary.com - Re:From webster's (Score:2)
I like mine better.
More info on Dean Kamen (Score:2)
Re:What IT Is And Isn't (Score:2)
What would be neat is if it had GPS and maps, maybe via built in Palm type device.
Also, the ability to daisy chain and form caravans (and thus the statement about planning cities around it, campuses, etc)
Especially if it could track painted guides, as well as allow for clean electrical power, as well as communicating with each other, and maybe even running off an inductive power source!
Geek dating! [bunnyhop.com]
Re:What IT Is And Isn't (Score:2)
Of course he knows what he's doing he dropped out of college.
one half an idea. (Score:2)
- Revolutionary (Jeff Bezos): (ie it goes round and round.)
- John Doerr is by no means stupid, but he does fund lots of stuff. He helped Netscape startup, for example...
- 'an alternative to products that "are dirty, expensive, sometimes dangerous and often frustrating, especially for people in the cities"'
I'm currently theorising that this is transportationally related: In my mind at least this fits all these criteria - and I can certainly sketch in vague conceptual forms technologies that could influence city design.Heinlein Shipstones anyone?
Stop Saying The WORD!!! (Score:2)
Yes! A herring!
We shall do no such thing.
Oh, please?
Cut down a tree with a herring? IT can't be done! (The Knights of Ni recoil in horror)
Oh! Don't say that word.
What word?
I cannot tell! Suffice to say is one of the words the Knights of Ni cannot hear!
How can we not say the word, if you don't tell us what IT is?
(cringing) AGHHH! You said IT again!
What, "is"?
No ... not "is"! Wouldn't get very far in life not saying "is."
My liege, it's Sir Robin!
Sir Robin!
My liege! IT's good to see you ...
Now he's said the word!
Surely you've not given up your quest for the Holy Grail?
He is sneaking away and buggering off ...
Shut up! ... No no no! Far from IT!
He said the word again!
I was looking for IT ...
AAAGHH!!!
Ah, here, here in this forest.
No, IT is far from this place.
Oh!! Stop saying the word! The word! The word we cannot hear!
Oh, stop IT!
You said IT again!
Hey, I said IT! I said IT! Oh! I said IT again! And there again! That's three ITs! Ohhh!
Hovercraft.... (Score:3)
1,000 bucks says that's what it is. And the information in the article seems to support this theory, like having the zoning laws changed, it being kind of humorous, etc.
Re:IT Independence Transporter (Score:2)
http://www.nhmagazine.com/99editions/99october/mi
I think it is very cool too- but, the MSNBC article is hyping it up *way* too much. They make it sound like your own personal hovercraft or something! * Sheesh *
Re:What IT Is And Isn't (Score:2)
I doubt it... why would Bezos wonder if it will be legal to use it? My guess is a personal hovercraft type device...
Kamen's "Wheelchair" (Score:2)
I wouldn't be surprised if Ginger is some variant of Kamen's wheelchair, designed to be fast, light and compact.
We are the Knights who say.... (Score:2)
(I think IT's a new form of electric shrubbery. That's why cities and campuses will have to be redesigned. And that's why Bezos laughed when he turned it on. An electric shrubbery is a very silly thing!)
Re:The title of the book (Score:2)
Holy crap, I'm majoring in IT and no one knows what IT even is?
I should REALLY have just gone into primary education. I could learn to make things out of popsicle sticks and learn to teach kindergarten math.
IT. Bah.
While it's almost certainly a hoax (Score:2)
The articles clearly indicate that it's a transportation device. The speculation is that the civil structures would have to be changed because currently everything is designed around cars : Roads, parking lots, etc. The mentions towards old economy forces obviously implicates the car manufacturers and the gigantic economic partners of those car companies.
Jobs is quoted as saying: "...If enough people see the machine you won't have to convince them to architect cities around it. It'll just happen."
Cities are currently entirely engineered around cars and the need to get those cars around. If it weren't for cars our social structure would be quite a bit different.
Kemper says the invention will "sweep over the world and change lives, cities, and ways of thinking."
Implication there is hovering, flying, etc. Sweeping over seems to be a hint of something that don't ride on the ground.
Simple (Score:2)
Easily theorised though: have an existing product with low cost of manufacture, and sell for a huge markup, just like Microsoft do.
Especially if it's a device (rather than software) you could license it to others to manufacture and sell.....
Re:Personal Levitating Scooter (Score:2)
www.killthepricks.com (Score:2)
Wireless Anything
Bluetooth Anything
Embedded Anything
eCommerce Anything
XML Anything
Convergence Anything
I will personally start the greatest jihad this planet has ever seen - enough is enough with the markatroid stunts.
Are You Being Served? (Score:2)
They never do tell you what it is.
IT = Clown? (Score:2)
Same article as MSNBC one (Score:2)
By PJ Mark
INSIDE.COM
Re:IT... (Score:3)
Re:What IT Is And Isn't (Score:2)
Ever seen The Rocketeer [imdb.com]?
All the hints are there in the article. It is obviously a personal transportation device that:
replaces cars
is fun & appealing
will require/allow city infrastructure changes
is easy to use
would require new laws/regulations
make existing competitors (probably automakers) panic
The article's hints are just to blatant too be anything but some sort of personal autonomous flight pack.
Of course IT could just be the latest version of VIP [imdb.com]
IV
Re:What IT Is And Isn't (Score:2)
My bet says it's some sort of super-clean, super-cool transportation. And since it was "turned on", it has something electrical
If you invented a super-cool transportation device, why would you be demo-ing it to Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs?
Haha (Score:2)
Hovercraft is just a little too... sci-fi for my tastes.
Electric go-karts with GPS and auto-navigation and caravan-ing, seems a smarter and cooler idea, myself.
Geek dating! [bunnyhop.com]
Re:What IT Is And Isn't (Score:4)
IT probably stands for Individual Transport.
It will be an alternative to the car. Thus the reference to the 'billion dollar old line companies' and 'social institutions' - in America, and in many places around the world, the car is a powerful social symbol.
The model named 'Metro' fits with a metropolitan-based transportation device.
Kamen has most recently worked on the 'active' wheelchair, which 'transports' an 'individual'. It would be natural that his mind is still focused on 'individual transport'.
Screwdrivers and hexwrenches indicate a mostly mechanical device, although I wouldn't preclude some pretty smart electronics. His active wheelchair can beat a human in a shoving match and stay balanced, no mean feat.
Anyway, I would bet on IT being some adaptation of the active wheelchair technology. Some sort of powered scooter you strap to your legs? Motorized shoes? Power roller-blades?
Re:it (Score:2)
It seems to answer a lot of the questions raised in this thread [slashdot.org] about personal hovercrafts...which happens to be the most convincing hypothesis I've read.
Bravo. If I only had a mod point.
- JoeShmoe
Salon Article (Score:3)
http://www.salon.com/books/wire/2001/01/09/ging
IT (Score:3)
Re:Its a hovercraft (Score:2)
Grab.
Re:I want IT! (Score:2)
Is it just me, or does anyone else think this trio aren't exactly the ppl to trust when it comes to finding good ideas?
Grab.
Don't we already? (Score:3)
My Guess, Sealed Personal Dirigibles. (Score:2)
A mechanicaly operated (pedaled) sealed system personal dirigible, with a mechanical gas pump.
Cost efficient, fun, difficult to regulate, cheap to mass produce once the design is right, and requiring serious changes to archetecture to take advantage of them.
I'd buy one, wouldn't you?
-- Crutcher --
#include <disclaimer.h>
Interesting... (Score:3)
But if you do a Google search on "ginger dean kamen", you get nothing. Not even any wack rumors. Deja doesn't turn up anything either.
So, it's got me curious, which is a pretty good PR trick if nothing else.
--Seen
Re:Seriously... (Score:5)
He might run into problems with the Stirling engine, too. The development of a marketable Stirling device has eluded the brightest engineering minds since Robert Stirling, a Scottish minister, patented the first version in 1816. The basic principle of Stirling's external combustion engine is simple: A chamber is filled with a gas that expands as it is heated by a small heat source, such as a propane flame, and contracts when cooled. The process operates a piston and drives the engine. The advantage? Cheap, local fuels can be used to run the engines, and Kamen has adapted his model to produce electricity instead of mechanical power.
But producing the thing is a more complex matter. While many have tried to use Stirlings to power drive shafts for vehicles, they have proved too expensive to manufacture on a mass scale, and they're not always efficient enough. One low tech problem is designing seals that guard against waste as the heat is transferred into a form that does useful work.
Deka's version heats a chamber containing helium, under pressure, and Kamen says it can run on gasoline, propane, fuel oil, diesel, alcohol, or even solar power - with one-fifth the emissions of a gas stove. Deka's engineers think they'll succeed where others have failed because they've ironed out all the kinks. "We looked at the history of the Stirling - all the money and time and expertise poured into it - and identified a half-dozen key goofs that previous teams had made," says project leader Chris Langenfeld. "Seventy percent of it was a materials challenge. We had to track down the right composites to use as seals."
Kamen hopes that his family of Stirlings, five years in development, will soon bring portable electricity to nations without a reliable power grid - or any grid at all. He envisions briefcase-sized Stirlings powering cell phones and cell towers, as well as purifying water. He aims to have them on the market in the next two years, and is currently working on the marketing issues - like how developing nations will be able to afford bulk purchases of the engines, which are projected to cost $1,500 apiece.
I think our friend Ross C. Bracket may have what IT is... a stirling engine powered scooter(?)?
Ibot Wheelchair (Score:2)
The man is a genius.
Ginger (Score:4)
The most intriguing match I found was to the character 'Ginger' in Chicken Run.
A quote from the review "<I>...partly thanks to Ginger, who believes that he'll be able to teach her and the rest of the chickens to fly</I>".
Could this be an invention that will help us 'learn to fly'??
This mysterious "IT" thing... (Score:2)
Remember, this invention is going to be drastic enough to change our entire notion of how cities should be organized. If it isn't transportation, then it's a new method for delivering utilities.
There's many people saying that this is merely a new type of engine. Think about that for a minute, though. If it were merely a new engine, we could continue using cars (privately-owned, personalized transport) just as we do today -- no change required.
I'm thinking that, somehow, IT is a new paradigm and not merely a new technology. Anything more than that, and I have no idea... but it's something for all of you to mull over.
The Reason IT Has To Wait For 2002 (Score:2)
Rumor has it that IT requires excessive ammounts of Dihydrogen Monoxide.
Vortex Thruster (Score:2)
-----Original Message-----
m l
From: Jim Bowery [mailto:jabowery@ricochet.net]
Sent: Saturday, December 30, 2000 3:57 PM
To: Ray Calkins
Subject: Bruce Calkins?
Ray,
I don't know if you are related to Bruce Calkins:
http://www.moller.com/about/staff/#calkins
but if you are, do you happen to know if the Moller people have checked out the stuff being done at the University of Houston with their "vortex thruster" approach to the Coanda effect?
http://www.ifdt.uh.edu/vtc/vortexthruster/main.ht
"Our initial conservative estimates indicate that a thruster with a 1 sq. m. chamber area can generate 4 tons of thrust with 17 times less energy than a conventional jet."
IT: Individual Transport, 1-man helicopter/jetpack (Score:2)
Okay, IT will revolutionise society, require cities to be retro-fitted, may breach existing regulations, and the inventor is a helicopter nut.
My guess? IT is a personal aviation device (eg. helicopter or jetpack) which is manportable, easy to use, safe, reliable and has a useful range.
The car won't be obsolete overnight; we'll still use the car for cargo (shopping etc). But that'll be about it.
--
Big Brother (Score:2)
my personal opinion (Score:2)
if jobs and bezos love IT, then IT must be a method of selling at a loss and then making up for it with quantity!
you too can have your very own DotCom (tm) to sell everything that you think everybody needs but is too lazy to buy it at a real store. here's a testimonial from Bob, started using IT to his advantage:
"A couple months ago, I started using IT to sell groceries on the internet. I figured 'Why would anybody trust the people at their local mom n' pop store when they could send their credit cards to me?' So I was talking to IT Venture Capital Services, and their rep was great! They gave me $10,000,000 just for walking in the door! And then when I told him I had a business idea that involved the internet, He gave me another 10,000,000! IT is the best thing that ever happened to the economy!
oh wait... tech stocks are down...
Shades of Pirates... (Score:2)
Wheeled vehicle with latch-on capabilities (Score:2)
self-balancing and self-braking functions. Also
with a generic capability to latch on to other
sources of mobility, including special (probably
tracked) vehicles built for the purpose, or
horizontal or vertical conveyor belts, possibly
with a kind of slingshot action to push then
release the vehicles at higher speeds, where they
will remain stable due to electronic and
gyroscopic controls.
May have autonomous capability, so units could
be public (like the experiment with bicycles in
Amsterdam), and could be thus "borrowed" or
perhaps rented when needed and then
automatically would shunt themselves around
the city in anticipation of predicted needs.
They would initially be useful without
infrastructure, but later as infrastructure
(conveyor belts, or conveyor-bot moving vehicles
onto which these personal vehicles could latch)
became more widespread, these personal vehicles
would become more useful. City governments
would invest in huge fleets of them to
alleviate traffic and pollution problems, but
individuals would also buy them for personal use.
(Metro versus Pro, although an individual could
presumably purchase either).
The wheels have to be fairly large (over 8",
say) to allow smooth navigation over obstacles.
The vehicle will also be able to jump when
necessary, absorb bumps with an electronically
controlled damping system, and may be able to
hook together with other units to form a train.
It may have a kind of micro radar to detect and
quickly respond to obstacles such as curbs.
With its low price, the Metro will not have
the ability to recover energy during braking and
downhill... well, maybe with a flywheel. But the
Pro may have this ability.
Note that Bezos et al did not necessarily see
these things doing all their tricks. They did
see at least one of them "turned on." It would
be possible to demo vehicles such as this without
having the full infrastruture in place: one unit
could, in motion, catch up to and latch on to
another unit, which could then demonstrate the
slingshot action of transferring speed to the
first unit. A key technology in all of this is
the same kind of sensing and balancing that goes
on in Kamen's wheelchair replacement, but applied
in a different domain, the domain of coordinating
and connecting two moving entities (vehicle and
vehicle, or vehicle and conveyer belt).
In a time of impending energy crunch (you ain't
seen nothin yet) a more efficient transportation
tool will really take off.
I think this is it. You could build cities around
it. Cities will be retrofitted for it. It will
affect people in cities especially. It will sweep
over the world.
It won't replace cars. Weather will be an
issue. But many cities in the world have way,
way more motorcycles than we ever see in most
of the cities most of us live in, and this will
be a cleaner, cheaper, replacement for those, in
those places where weather doesn't make it
impractical. It will be interesting to see if
it can balance and travel on ice.
On one score, though, all the ideas I've seen
including this idea (I would say my idea, but it
contains parts stolen from many of the ideas of
others here) fail the test: I don't think these
ideas are bigger than the Internet. But maybe
John Doerr thinks so.
Other ideas:
Maglev: nice idea, but takes a lot of juice.
Probably impractical.
Hover: also nice, but a bit extravagent. Keep
in mind, whatever this is, if it is too over-
the-top, there will be some stigma that will
hold back its acceptance. I think these gues
are smart enough to understand that. They
did allude to a bit of a question about whether
people would be allowed to use it, but that fits
for some wheeled vehicles as well as a hover
vehicle.
Toilet: Nah. Not as big as the Internet.
Personal power station: doesn't fit with some
of the hints that are out there.
Wireless internet: Maybe, if by that we mean
ad hoc wireless networks where everyone makes
their own bandwidth available for others to
share when it's not being used, with a
resulting high bandwith network especially in
cities... But there is no tie-in with a dirty
product, in this case, unless it is obliquely
with the fact that telecommuting makes cars
less useful.
Re:Time travel? (Score:2)
If it's time travel, will someone please come back and post as an Anonymous Coward to let us know?
Another Article (Score:3)
http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?article_id=2021
Wow... (Score:4)
According to the proposal, another investor, Credit Suisse First Boston, expects Kamen's invention to make more money in its first year than any start-up in history, predicting Kamen will be worth more in five years than Bill Gates.
Bill Gates has more than US$60 billion to his name. That means this company would go from $0 to >$60 billion in five years? My first reaction is that this is complete horseshit, but if Credit Suisse First Boston [csfb.com], an arm of a major Swiss bank, is behind it, it must certainly carry some weight.
But think about the sheer logistics behind rocketing to more than $60 billion in corporate worth in only five years... it absolutely boggles the mind!
Jobs told Kamen the invention would be as significant as the PC, the proposal says.
If Steve Jobs says this, he just might be on to something. But how many things have been trumpeted as "PC replacements" in the past, oh, ten years?
--
Put the pieces together, willyah? (Score:2)
The "Stirling engine" is just too silly and I'm going to throw it out. However, the meaning of IT [slashdot.org] post sounds plausable. The USPTO patenet listings [slashdot.org] seems to have some clues. I picked "human transporter" as the most viable entire-product listed. Then there's the Ginger post [slashdot.org] about what Ginger could mean. An editor (in the linked story) called it a "personal hovering craft". All this seems to jive (and go back and read that patent!). "Metro" and "Pro" seem like good names for transportation devices or some sort.
There's too much mention about "irregular surfaces" and "stairs" and what not, and the thought of people suspended below helicopter blades frightens me so much that I'm going to wager that it is NOT a helicopter. But I believe it is a personal (one-person) hovercraft type device (no doubt, with a novel approach) that has controls like a scooter [or motorcycle] (which allow for leaning), plus a joystick control and a height adjustment control.
The thought of thousands of people with this would jive with what was said about city regulations. With all the current craze over the scooter fad, yeah, I could see people buying them in droves at the right price, and it sounds far more entertaining than the stock of a previous employeer [yahoo.com] that I have sitting around doing nothing.
Summary: It's a one person transportation device that does not rely on standard locomotion (which makes it cool) such as a motor driven wheel to move you from point A to B. (Of course, I wonder how good the brakes are!)
Anyone ever play the game Paranoia by West End Games? Did you ever get the R&D Catalog that had novel inventions such as the "papercut chainsaw" and the "I scream cone"? Well, if so, you'll remember IT. What is IT? You mean, you don't have IT? I WANT IT! PLEASE! Tell me where I can get IT! All your enemies already have IT! [In this case, IT was a handheld computer device that could wipe out any enemy as reliably as any other R&D device in Paranoia. Which is to say, rarely.] Anyone care to join me in some More Treasonous Songs About Food Vats?
What Are The Chances? (Score:3)
Re:Wow... (Score:2)
I know what IT is! (Score:4)
And people are having such a hard time figuring out what IT is...
:)
Bad link (Score:2)
Dancin Santa
Eeek. (Score:2)
Re:What IT Is And Isn't (Score:2)
--
Obfuscated e-mail addresses won't stop sadistic 12-year-old ACs.
Mystery article about Ginger and "Dean Kamen"? (Score:2)
1. The Hooksett Banner Archives, April 22, 1999 [altavista.com]
April 22, 1999. This week's stories: (click on the headline to jump to story) Pembroke Academy boys recycle clutter and junk into nitrogen-powered...
URL: www.neighborhoodpub.com/banarchive042299.html - bytes
from THIS [altavista.com] Altavista query?
Three men and a hex wrench... (Score:2)
Three men in a small room with hex wrenches, a couple of duffel bags, and a guy with a big "honking" laugh.
Considering that and the known critical mass of each of these men's egos, I'm thinking's its a new, efficient way to masterbate.
Re:Big Brother (Score:2)
From webster's (Score:2)
IT(n.):syn. Synergy, Value-Add, (phr.)Thinking outside the box. (side: box (n.) is not implicitly labeled). or, any other number of terms upper-management throws around without any clue of definition.
IT(n.):ant. Work-ethic, Skilled Labor, e.g. "I work for a company that's been around longer than 3 years."
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
Yo guys! (Score:2)
Re:Ginger (Score:2)
Re:IT... (Score:3)
it's obviously a razor scooter.
bezos is behind the curve again.
Re:Ginger (Score:2)
Heres why:
- There are possible health effects of keeping your body in strong magnetic fields for long periods of time
- Those grids will draw a lot of power from already overtaxed power grids
- chicken and Egg: why build these exensive grids (that require tearing up large sections of sidewalks and roads) when nobody has the "it". Why buy "it" when you cannot use it?
- People who wear steel-toe boots will be annoyed that their feet keep sticking to the sidewalk
- People who carry floppy disks/zip disks/tapes/PDAs around will be annoyed when they get home and find all of their media has been degaussed
- Nearby TVs (in store windows/apartments will be distorted by the fields, not to mention computer monitors).
- People won't like having to pry metal objects off of the sidewalk when they drop them, nor have the pocketknife in their pocket pull their pants down to the sidewalk (and then stick!)
I hope this is enough explanation as to why powerful magnetic fields in sidewalks is a bad idea.Re:IT... (Score:2)
Re:What IT Is And Isn't (Score:4)
Bah. None of you are thinking big enough. I say IT stands for Instantaneous Transport That's obviously why he needed to build 2 of them - one to transmit, and one to receive.
OK, so I know I'm dreaming, but I want personal teleportation...
-Cyclopatra
"We can't all, and some of us don't." -- Eeyore
Comment removed (Score:4)
IT IS.. (Score:3)
Beware IT, Badtimes ahead! (Score:3)
If you receive an "IT", get rid of it immediately WITHOUT using it. It is the most dangerous thingy yet.
It will rewrite your hard drive. Not only that, but it will scramble any disks that are even close to your computer (20' range at 72 degrees Fahrenheit).
It recalibrates your refrigerator's coolness setting so all your ice cream melts and your milk curdles. It will demagnetize the strips on all your credit cards, reprogram your ATM access code, screw up the tracking on your VCR, and use subspace field harmonics to scratch any CD's you try to play.
It will program your phone autodial to call only your mother-in-law's number.
It will hide your car keys when you are late for work and interfere with your car radio so that you hear 1940's hits and static while stuck in traffic.
It will give you nightmares about circus midgets.
It will replace your shampoo with Nair and your Nair with Rogaine, all while changing all active verbs to passive tense and incorporating undetectable misspellings which grossly change the interpretation of key sentences.
It will infest your armpits with fleas of a thousands camels.
It will rewrite your back-up files, leave the toilet seat up and leave the hair dryer plugged in dangerously close to a full bath tub.
It wantonly removes the forbidden tags from your mattresses and pillows, and refills your skim milk with whole.
It is insidious and subtle. It is dangerous and terrifying to behold.
It is also a rather interesting shade of mauve. It will cause the universe to implode at the speed of light with a giant sucking sound, and bother those with sensitive eardrums.
These are just a few signs. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS INFORMATION TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!! Or "IT" will track you down via public transportation. And won't you be sorry then.
Re:Salon Article (Score:3)
Link given above was broken due to the magic of "spacedot," the combination of lazy perl code and a narrow text-entry box that adds rand om sp a ces to lon g wor ds, as if mySQL or Perl or HTML really had such wordwrapping limits.
Fixed:/ index.html [salon.com]
http://www.salon.com/books/wire/2001/01/09/ginger
Cool. (Score:3)
--jwriney
Re:Let's use the USPTO to our advantage (Score:5)
Anything that's going to be as big as this article suggests is not going to be patented only in the US. They'll have patents filed in all major developed countries. And most countries publish applications 18 months after filing.
Most commonly this is done through the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). They allow you to file a single application (known as a WO document) for a large number of countries, and they also publish applications 18 months after filing. [Side note before you conspiracy theorists get in a tizzy: WIPO does not grant patents. They only offer a simple method by which to file in a large number of countries, and each individual country still decides whether or not to grant the patent.]
Anyway, the bottom line is that there's less lag in the publication of WO applications than there is in the publication of US applications. If you go to the Delphion patent site [delphion.com] (previously the IBM patent site) and search for WO documents listing Dean Kamen as the inventor, the results are even more interesting than the list of US patents (only transportation-related patents published in 2000 or 2001 included--the older ones are largely the same as the US list given in the parent comment):
PERSONAL MOBILITY VEHICLES AND METHODS [delphion.com]
MECHANICAL IMPROVEMENTS TO A PERSONAL VEHICLE [delphion.com]
BALANCING VEHICLE WITH CAMBER AND TOE-IN [delphion.com]
CONTROL OF A BALANCING PERSONAL VEHICLE [delphion.com]
CONTROL SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR WHEELCHAIR [delphion.com]
FAULT TOLERANT ARCHITECTURE FOR A PERSONAL VEHICLE [delphion.com]
Re:IT... (Score:4)
--
It's a self-balancing scooter-like vehicle (Score:3)
This is consistent with his patents and the description provided. It's not a medical device, the price and size are about right, and if it takes off, it would change the use of streets and sidewalks. It would have many of the same legal problems as skateboards, rollerblades, and scooters. It also has a major product liability problem, but if he's attempted FDA approval on a wheelchair, he may be able to deal with that.
Quit saying that word! (Score:5)
This is it!! (Score:3)
- IT is not a medical invention.
- In a private meeting with Bezos, Jobs and Doerr, Kamen assembled two Gingers -- or ITs -- in 10 minutes, using a screwdriver and hex wrenches from components that fit into a couple of large duffel bags and some cardboard boxes.
- The invention has a fun element to it, because once a Ginger was turned on, Bezos started laughing his "loud, honking laugh".
- There are possibly two Ginger models, named Metro and Pro -- and the Metro may possibly cost less than $2,000. Bezos is quoted as saying that IT "...is a product so revolutionary, you'll have no problem selling it. The question is, are people going to be allowed to use it?"
- Jobs is quoted as saying: "...If enough people see the machine you won't have to convince them to architect cities around it. It'll just happen."
- Kemper says the invention will "sweep over the world and change lives, cities, and ways of thinking."
- The "core technology and its implementations" will, according to Kamen, "have a big, broad impact not only on social institutions but some billion-dollar old-line companies." And the invention will "profoundly affect our environment and the way people live worldwide. It will be an alternative to products that are dirty, expensive, sometimes dangerous and often frustrating, especially for people in the cities."
- IT will be a mass-market consumer product "likely to run afoul of existing regulations and or inspire new ones,"
- according to Kemper. The invention will also likely require "meeting with city planners, regulators, legislators, large commercial companies and university presidents about how cities, companies and campuses can be retro-fitted for Ginger."
** It's a ROBOTIC PROSTITUTE!! ** oh happy day!