GraniteGeek

GraniteGeek http://www.area603.com/index.php?blogId=6 DavidBrooks 2009-08-20T05:01:42Z Segway Polo - when will it make the Olympics? http://www.area603.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=2302&blogId=6 <a type="image/jpeg" href="http://www.area603.com/resserver.php?blogId=6&resource=segway.jpg" id="res_254" class="nodecoration"><img width="141" height="208" border="0" src="http://www.area603.com/resserver.php?blogId=6&resource=segway.jpg&mode=medium" style="margin: 5px;" class="res_image_medium" /></a>In pursuit of all things Segway here at Granite Geek, I'd like to send you to the wonderful Freakonomics blog hosted by the NY Times, which today <a href="http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/19/what-is-the-future-of-segway-polo/">ponders the growth of Woz's favorite sport, Segway Polo</a>. The best part is a fascinating connection to the craze of "automobile polo" in pre-World War I era, when cars where still brand new.If I was a zillionaire, however, I'd be playing <a href="http://www.elephantpolo.com/">elephant polo</a>. Segway 2008-08-20T09:57:56Z DavidBrooks Segway still has investor fans http://www.area603.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=2292&blogId=6 <a href="http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2008/08/15/with-clean-transportation-all-the-rage-segway-is-reportedly-on-the-road-to-raising-14-million-series-d-round/">From Xconomy</a>: "On the heels of closing the final tranche of a $35 million financing round that ranked as the fifth-largest New England venture deal of the second quarter, Segway is reportedly back on the financing circuit looking for $14 million more for a Series D round ... The report says the company has raised $5 million toward the new round, and that the Masdar Clean Tech Fund was part of it." Segway 2008-08-18T09:05:51Z DavidBrooks We survived Plan 9 From Hacker Space http://www.area603.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=2267&blogId=6 If you got the "site does not exist" error today, my apologies. A 'bot or something got into this page and messed up the SQL - I guess leaving "12345" as the password wasn't such a good idea ... Segway 2008-08-06T21:23:11Z DavidBrooks Toyota targets Segway? http://www.area603.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=2263&blogId=6 Via Slashdot, I saw this item: Toyota is "tinkering with" (developing but has no production schedule) a Segway-like upright transporter. Here's the <a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=9525">ZD Net report</a>, which includes small pictures and specs of a few possible models. They look like a Segway designed by a person who loves round-eyed anime charatcters. Segway 2008-08-03T17:02:13Z DavidBrooks Segway official heads to Apple (no, it's not Kamen) http://www.area603.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=2214&blogId=6 <a class="nodecoration" id="res_254" href="http://www.area603.com/resserver.php?blogId=6&resource=segway.jpg" type="image/jpeg"><img border="0" class="res_image_small" style="margin: 5px;" src="http://www.area603.com/resserver.php?blogId=6&resource=segway.jpg&mode=preview" /></a> <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-9984489-36.html?tag=nefd.riv"></a><a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-9984489-36.html?tag=nefd.riv">CNet reports </a>that the Chief Technology Officer of Segway, one of the company's earliest employees, is heading to Apple to be vice president of product design. The story notes that <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-17912_3-9983589-72.html">the Chinese military is trying out Segways</a> to patrol the Olympics. General 2008-07-07T11:28:13Z DavidBrooks Cross a Segway with Batman's motorcycle ... http://www.area603.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=2198&blogId=6 <a class="nodecoration" id="res_599" href="http://www.area603.com/resserver.php?blogId=6&resource=uno%20motorcycle.jpg" type="image/jpeg"><img width="419" height="280" border="0" class="res_image_medium" style="margin: 5px;" src="http://www.area603.com/resserver.php?blogId=6&resource=uno%20motorcycle.jpg&mode=medium" /></a>And you'd get something like this two-side-by-side-wheeled, gyro-balanced, electric something-or-other <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-mxa0629unojun29,0,111563.story">profiled in the Chicago Tribune</a>. <a href="http://www.the-uno-tomorrows-transportation.com/electric-bike-design/design.php">It's called the Uno</a> (the Web site is sparse - you'll learn more at the article) and while I doubt it'll drive Dean Kamen out of business, it's way cool. The photo above is a photo by the inventor, shown riding it. Segway 2008-06-30T09:45:53Z DavidBrooks Segway and $4 gas http://www.area603.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=2165&blogId=6 <a class="nodecoration" id="res_254" href="http://www.area603.com/resserver.php?blogId=6&resource=segway.jpg" type="image/jpeg"><img border="0" class="res_image_medium" style="margin: 5px; width: 137px; height: 203px;" src="http://www.area603.com/resserver.php?blogId=6&resource=segway.jpg&mode=medium" /></a>There have been a lot of anecdotal stories saying that high gas prices are boosting sales of the electric-powered Segway (e.g., in the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121357738002676071.html?mod=googlenews_wsj">Wall Street Journal</a>, and the Segway's hometown paper <a href="http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Urban+Segway+dealers+see+strong+sales+spike&articleId=3074449b-138f-4cb8-a724-2bfab84c07a8">the Union-Leader</a>), but because the private company doesn't release sales figures, they all lack hard numbers. Frankly, I can't believe that anybody really uses it as a car alternative (with a 12.5 mph top speed) but who knows? A Segway skeptic at the Dallas Morning News <a href="http://techblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/06/so-how-many-segways-have-been.html">estimates total sales are 40,000</a>, which is a "rounding error" compared to any real transportation device. Similar stories are all over the place about <a href="http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/05/21/gas-prices-accelerating-scooter-sales/">a boost in gasoline-powered scooter sales</a>. That's more believable, however: At least you can take them onto roads, even if not highways. I've certainly seen more of those Vespa-like vehicles on the road in the past 6 weeks than in the past 6 years. Segway 2008-06-18T08:44:41Z DavidBrooks Driving a Segway by the seat of your pants http://www.area603.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=1946&blogId=6 <a class="nodecoration" id="res_254" href="http://www.area603.com/resserver.php?blogId=6&resource=segway.jpg" type="image/jpeg"><img border="0" class="res_image_medium" style="margin: 5px; width: 137px; height: 201px;" src="http://www.area603.com/resserver.php?blogId=6&resource=segway.jpg&mode=medium" /></a>Literally, it seems, according to <a href="http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20080035395.PGNR.&OS=DN/20080035395&RS=DN/20080035395">this patent application </a>from Dean Kamen and seven other New Hampshire folks (<a href="http://www.dekaresearch.com/">DEKA</a> employees, I assume). It's for a Segway seat "coupled to the platform in such a manner as to permit variation of the position of the center of gravity in the fore-aft plane by translation and rotation of at least a portion of the support" which means you could not only sit on the Segway as you ride, but control it by shifting your weight instead of moving the handlebars, e.g.: "If the seat is moved in the fore direction sensors sense the resulting tilt of the vehicle and cause the vehicle to increase in speed in the fore direction. If the seat is slid in the aft direction, the vehicle 30 will slow down correspondingly. " Thanks to New Scientist's <a href="http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/mg19726485.400-gizmo.html">Gizmo</a>. Patent 2008-03-24T06:05:46Z DavidBrooks Dean Kamen on NPR's "Wait Wait ..." http://www.area603.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=1415&blogId=6 <a class="nodecoration" id="res_449" href="http://www.area603.com/resserver.php?blogId=6&resource=wait%20wait%20radio%20logo.jpg" type="image/jpeg"><img border="0" class="res_image_small" style="margin: 5px;" src="http://www.area603.com/resserver.php?blogId=6&resource=wait%20wait%20radio%20logo.jpg&mode=preview" /></a> I was, alas, not one of the people who attended last week's taping of the NPR comedy quiz show "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" at the Palace Theater in Manchester: I had to listen to it later (<a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=35">streaming online here</a>). Dean Kamen was the guest, and host Peter Sagal made a point that had never occurred to me before: A child prodigy-turned-super-inventor who owns a big, secretive house and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Dumpling_Island">his own island</a>, Kamen perfectly fits the comic-book description of an Evil Genius! In fact, he's just like the bad guy in "<a href="http://www.pixar.com/featurefilms/incredibles/">The Incredibles</a>" ... except that his island (off the coast of Connecticut) doesn't have a volcano. The show had a lot of fun with that idea, worrying about running into laser-firing robots after Kamen failed to win the contest. Kamen, incidentally, was a good sport about all the Segway heckling that the heckling-prone cast indulged in. Segway 2007-09-30T17:12:32Z DavidBrooks Vt. cops ponder Segways http://www.area603.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=1311&blogId=6 <a class="nodecoration" id="res_254" href="http://www.area603.com/resserver.php?blogId=6&resource=segway.jpg" type="image/jpeg"><img border="0" class="res_image_small" style="margin: 5px;" src="http://www.area603.com/resserver.php?blogId=6&resource=segway.jpg&mode=preview" /></a>It's been - what, seven years? - since "Ginger" became the Segway, but <a href="http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070829/NEWS02/708290303/1007">stories like this</a> still act as if Dean Kamen's baby is a novelty. Segway 2007-08-29T08:18:28Z DavidBrooks