Segway - A long road ahead

Colin Blackburn said:

From:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4409649.stm

"The success of the Segway could come down to the market it is pitched
at, according to Ed Griffiths, designer with product design company JEDCo.

Alternatively, it could just be that it is a [censored] product which serves
no purpose, real _or_ perceived. Might as well market a self-balancing
teapot.

James

James Annan said:

Alternatively, it could just be that it is a [censored] product which serves
no purpose, real _or_ perceived. Might as well market a self-balancing
teapot.

Quite. For the same money you could buy a decent scooter, which is faster,
more comfortable, has a decent range and doesn't look like the mutant
offspring of a lawnmower. /AND/ have another one for Sundays.

--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
World Domination?
Just find a world that's into that kind of thing, then chain to the
floor and walk up and down on it in high heels. (Mr. Sunshine)

In message <[email hidden]>, James Annan
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Colin Blackburn said:

From:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4409649.stm
"The success of the Segway could come down to the market it is
pitched at, according to Ed Griffiths, designer with product design
company JEDCo.

Alternatively, it could just be that it is a [censored] product which serves
no purpose, real _or_ perceived. Might as well market a self-balancing
teapot.

Would that be a chocolate one?

--
Bob Downie
Downie GeoScience Ltd.
please remove #n0spam# to reply directly

"Bob Downie" <Bob_news@downie-geo.#n0spam#co.uk> wrote in message
news:gD3FB8Jv99UCFwnm@downie-geo.%23n0spam%23co.uk...
Might as well market a self-balancing

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

teapot.

Would that be a chocolate one?

Yes, it would. You might as well consider a rubber bell.

Cheers,

Tomek Li

James Annan said:

Might as well market a self-balancing
teapot.

James

What's wrong with one of those?
--
Michael MacClancy

Colin Blackburn said:

From:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4409649.stm

"The success of the Segway could come down to the market it is
pitched at, according to Ed Griffiths, designer with product
design company JEDCo.

Whenever I see the name Segway it brings the theme tune from the puppet
series Stingray into what passes for my consciousness.

Segway, Segway, da-da-da-da.

--
Dave...

James Annan said:

Alternatively, it could just be that it is a [censored] product which serves
no purpose, real _or_ perceived.

AFAICT not even original. Clive Sinclair made something remarkably
similar 20 years ago.

--
Nick Kew

In article said:

James Annan said:

Alternatively, it could just be that it is a [censored] product which serves
no purpose, real _or_ perceived.

AFAICT not even original. Clive Sinclair made something remarkably
similar 20 years ago.

The C5 is remarkably similar to a Segway? I hadn't realised the
C5 was a two wheel stand on scooter.

The Segway really is a silly waste of time. AIUI (and as
discussed in a thread which may have been here a few months back) the
Segway is probably not legal for use on pavements in the UK and is
probably not legal for road use either.
--
Tim.

Colin Blackburn said:

From:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4409649.stm

"The success of the Segway could come down to the market it is pitched
at, according to Ed Griffiths, designer with product design company JEDCo.

"He says a two-wheeled scooter that is used on the pavement and goes at
12mph is being pitched as an alternative to walking.

""But walking is free, natural and we all know how to do it, so why pay
thousands for a Segway?" he says. "And if you don't want to walk why not
get a bike, again it's much cheaper. The Segway doesn't seem to have
massive practical benefits over other products or our own legs.""

At least this guy recognises the bike as existing unlike the BBC, who
say, of the Segway's lack of UK success,

"[Kamen's] vision has yet to be realised. After a flurry of publicity
things have gone pretty quiet and the UK's commuters are still jamming
themselves into cars, trains, buses and tubes every morning."

Colin

A classic example of american hype vs substance - this was the product
that was hyped as being the invention that would change our lives
forever that we werent allowed to know anything about apart from that
wasnt it?

much as i hate the car culture et all the segway was never going to be
sexier from a marketing pov was it....

the bbc article mentions a potential golf application for the segway -
how about another thread for alternative uses..... heres my starter for
ten....

Busy motorists could use it to get from their car (parked on the
pavement) to their front door without moving any muscles in their lower
body......

Tim <[email hidden]> wrote:
: In article <[email hidden]>, Nick Kew wrote:
:> James Annan wrote:
:>
:>> Alternatively, it could just be that it is a [censored] product which serves
:>> no purpose, real _or_ perceived.
:>
:> AFAICT not even original. Clive Sinclair made something remarkably
:> similar 20 years ago.
:>

: The C5 is remarkably similar to a Segway? I hadn't realised the
: C5 was a two wheel stand on scooter.

I think the point was that it was remarkably similar in that both
are [censored] products that serve(d) no purpose, real or perceived.

Which is hard to argue with I think

--
Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt
Don't get me wrong, perl is an OK operating system, but it lacks a
lightweight scripting language -- Walter Dnes

On Wed, 06 Apr 2005 12:02:08 +0100, Colin Blackburn
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4409649.stm

Did you notice that all the riders pictured were wearing PFDBs? I
wonder if they wear them when jogging as well?

Guy
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

"To every complex problem there is a solution which is
simple, neat and wrong" - HL Mencken

In article said:

Tim <[email hidden]> wrote:
: In article <[email hidden]>, Nick Kew wrote:
:> James Annan wrote:
:>
:>> Alternatively, it could just be that it is a [censored] product which serves
:>> no purpose, real _or_ perceived.
:>
:> AFAICT not even original. Clive Sinclair made something remarkably
:> similar 20 years ago.
:>

: The C5 is remarkably similar to a Segway? I hadn't realised the
: C5 was a two wheel stand on scooter.

I think the point was that it was remarkably similar in that both
are [censored] products that serve(d) no purpose, real or perceived.

Which is hard to argue with I think

That is certainly beyond dispute🙂
--
Tim.

"Dave Larrington" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

James Annan said:

Alternatively, it could just be that it is a [censored] product which serves
no purpose, real _or_ perceived. Might as well market a self-balancing
teapot.

Quite. For the same money you could buy a decent scooter, which is

faster,

Quoted message said:

more comfortable, has a decent range and doesn't look like the mutant
offspring of a lawnmower. /AND/ have another one for Sundays.

and pay for fuel, license, tax, test if you dont wanna go around with L
plates on,
a helmet, servicing cost, etc

there is no end to the false economy of costs that are associated with our
favoured internal combustion engine machines

James Annan hatte geschrieben:

Quoted message said:

Colin Blackburn said:

From:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4409649.stm

"The success of the Segway could come down to the market it is
pitched at, according to Ed Griffiths, designer with product design
company JEDCo.

Alternatively, it could just be that it is a [censored] product which serves
no purpose, real _or_ perceived. Might as well market a self-balancing
teapot.

It might well be that I am totally off, but I see a possible application
for a self-balancing teapot for people using wheelchairs. It might give
them the opportunity to be on eyes level with other people standing or
to reach the top shelf with the aid of a machine somehow more elegant
than a fork lift.
The Segway in it's present form is just a toy, of course.

Günther

Michael MacClancy said:

James Annan said:

Might as well market a self-balancing
teapot.

James

What's wrong with one of those?

Nothing, and it would be very clever, but would you pay $2800 for one
with wheels and gyroscopes rather than pay 2 quid for one with a flat
base like mine has?

James

Arthur Clune said:

Tim <[email hidden]> wrote:
: In article <[email hidden]>, Nick Kew wrote:
:> James Annan wrote:
:>
:>> Alternatively, it could just be that it is a [censored] product which serves
:>> no purpose, real _or_ perceived.
:>
:> AFAICT not even original. Clive Sinclair made something remarkably
:> similar 20 years ago.
:>

: The C5 is remarkably similar to a Segway? I hadn't realised the
: C5 was a two wheel stand on scooter.

I think the point was that it was remarkably similar in that both
are [censored] products that serve(d) no purpose, real or perceived.

Which is hard to argue with I think

They both "solve" a similar non-problem with transport too.

James

Günther Schwarz said:

James Annan hatte geschrieben:

Quoted message said:

Colin Blackburn said:

From:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4409649.stm

"The success of the Segway could come down to the market it is
pitched at, according to Ed Griffiths, designer with product design
company JEDCo.

Alternatively, it could just be that it is a [censored] product which serves
no purpose, real _or_ perceived. Might as well market a self-balancing
teapot.

It might well be that I am totally off, but I see a possible application
for a self-balancing teapot for people using wheelchairs. It might give
them the opportunity to be on eyes level with other people standing or
to reach the top shelf with the aid of a machine somehow more elegant
than a fork lift.
The Segway in it's present form is just a toy, of course.

IIRC one of the fore-runners with similar balancing technology was a
4-wheeled wheelchair that could rear up on its hind wheels, climb stairs
etc. and was touted as bringing a lot more mobility to disabled people.
Not sure what happened to that, if anything.

James

Tim <[email hidden]> wrote in news:[email hidden]-
norman.net:

Quoted message said:

The C5 is remarkably similar to a Segway? I hadn't realised the
C5 was a two wheel stand on scooter.

It wouldn't be too hard to make a C5 behave like a Segway (the technology
behind a Segway isn't very complicated, despite the hype). It would be a
laugh to see an old C5 wheelying down the road 🙂

Graeme

"dkahn400" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:1112803201.086879.81040
@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:

Quoted message said:

Segway, Segway, da-da-da-da.

Thank you Dave, I wonder how may of us here will now have that go through
our heads whenever we hear of one now. I know I will :-/

Graeme