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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: StanX Long who wrote (60143)	2/7/2002 3:51:59 AM
From: StanX Long	Respond to of 70976

"OT" Ginger's Next Trick Forget the scooter. The amazing engine that may eventually power it will be the real breakthrough. By Paul Saffo, February 2002 Issue business2.com After a year of ballyhoo, rumor, and a televised test-drive by Diane Sawyer, Ginger now faces the task of becoming a real product. Ginger, of course, is the gyro-stabilized personal transporter invented by Dean Kamen and his team at Segway. (Ginger is officially called the Segway Human Transporter, or HT, but "Ginger" will likely stick.) Riding Ginger is fun. Serious, giggling fun. Like a first ride on a bicycle, minus the learning curve. On my first test-drive, I was slaloming around potted plants and trying to ditch the Segway handler to head outside and jump curbs. Ginger has already won the hearts of early-adopters, but Segway is wisely deferring selling the product to consumers. Social acceptance of Ginger depends utterly on giving it a respectable reputation, and that means no hotdogging nerds cutting off drivers and terrifying pedestrians. The first Ginger-fliers to mix with the public will be in uniform: cops and postal carriers. If the public gets to ride the current Ginger at all, it will be at Walt Disney World, surrounded by clean-cut and slightly nervous escorts.