Want to be the first kid on the block to own a Segway?
February 19, 2002 7:48 AM Subscribe
Want to be the first kid on the block to own a Segway? Amazon and Dean Kamen are auctioning off three of them. All proceeds go to Dean's non-profit organization, FIRST.
Hey, a successful bid includes an all-expenses paid trip to Orlando, Florida, too. Right now the bids are about $13,000, but I'm guessing they'll double or triple that.
The company for which I work is producing the circuit boards and other electronic parts for the Segway (Kamen went to an auto supplier instead of Silicon Valley due to the environment the Segway would be exposed to). Supposedly we have some Segways that are being field tested in our manufacturing facilities. I'm going to try and get my feet on one of those babys.
posted by pardonyou? at 8:08 AM on February 19, 2002
The company for which I work is producing the circuit boards and other electronic parts for the Segway (Kamen went to an auto supplier instead of Silicon Valley due to the environment the Segway would be exposed to). Supposedly we have some Segways that are being field tested in our manufacturing facilities. I'm going to try and get my feet on one of those babys.
posted by pardonyou? at 8:08 AM on February 19, 2002
just yesterday i was wondering what happened to the segway, it seemed to kind of disappear for a while.... its back, I guess. 13k? no way, jose.
Those segway videos were missing something. We spiced it up a bit with some special effects to the video (3mb mov).
posted by tomplus2 at 8:52 AM on February 19, 2002
Those segway videos were missing something. We spiced it up a bit with some special effects to the video (3mb mov).
posted by tomplus2 at 8:52 AM on February 19, 2002
I went to go see Dean Kamen when he was at the Museum of Science a couple of weeks ago. He brought along a half dozen Segway people and a similar number of Segways (half were the personal version and half were the commercial version). They let people try them out (we unfortunately didn't get there early enough to try them out), and it was totally fascinating watching people learn how to use them. Invariably they would be very very tentative, but would get the hang of it within seconds.
We also watched Dean's lecture, and while the general consensus was that he's totally smart, he's one of the worst public speakers, besides myself, that I've ever seen. But then, if these things sell as well as they're expected to, he'll be able to buy all the spokesmodels he wants.
posted by bshort at 9:04 AM on February 19, 2002
We also watched Dean's lecture, and while the general consensus was that he's totally smart, he's one of the worst public speakers, besides myself, that I've ever seen. But then, if these things sell as well as they're expected to, he'll be able to buy all the spokesmodels he wants.
posted by bshort at 9:04 AM on February 19, 2002
Current bids are above 30k. That just seems silly. I dunno, I'm all about being on the bleeding edge of tech...but, it's scooter for goodness sake. You could buy a car and drive to florida for less than that. :)
posted by dejah420 at 1:48 PM on February 19, 2002
posted by dejah420 at 1:48 PM on February 19, 2002
I agree with bshort's comments about Kamen's lack of PR chops. I honestly believe that if they'd simply unveiled the Segway without the rabid hype, the general public (especially us geeks) would've thought, "Hey, check that out! Damn clever! I want one of those."
But building the suspense up to the point of hysteria by claiming that this top-secret invention would change the world as we know it was a mistake. Not only was everyone totally underwhelmed ("Hey, that's not a flying car!"), but now the Segway's hipness is forever tainted.
Listening to Kamen prattle on about how you "just think" about going forward and the Segway magically obeys your command makes him sound like a new-age freak. We don't need to be told that something's amazing if it actually is.
posted by johnnyace at 11:56 PM on February 19, 2002
But building the suspense up to the point of hysteria by claiming that this top-secret invention would change the world as we know it was a mistake. Not only was everyone totally underwhelmed ("Hey, that's not a flying car!"), but now the Segway's hipness is forever tainted.
Listening to Kamen prattle on about how you "just think" about going forward and the Segway magically obeys your command makes him sound like a new-age freak. We don't need to be told that something's amazing if it actually is.
posted by johnnyace at 11:56 PM on February 19, 2002
I honestly have my doubts about the segway (although seeing how many of the workers at the convention Center in Indianapolis were getting around on electric scooters, I guess I can see the utility in corporate settings) I would rather put half of the cost of the segway into a hybrid electric bicycle that is compatible with existing roadways, bicycle accessories, and bicycle racks.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 8:45 AM on February 20, 2002
posted by KirkJobSluder at 8:45 AM on February 20, 2002
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posted by jacobw at 8:02 AM on February 19, 2002