TECHNOLOGY
IT has been unveiled... You excited yet?
By Kirk J Torrance 6th December 2001
For the past year "IT" or "Ginger" has been an alluring invention -- yet no-one knew what it was. "Something that will change the world", "Make life easier", "Revolutionise transport" were some of the things being said about IT. Investors, the likes of Jeff Bezos (Amazon.com CEO), were backing it... They were also all sworn to secrecy...

On the 3th Dec. it was unveiled on ABC's Morning News and, ever since, has had people throughout the world pondering whether or not to dump the car, bus, etc... and get IT!

You think forward and you go forward - think backwards and, yes, you go backwards... With some impressive technology including several state of the art microprocessors, an array of balance sensors, environmentally friendly and battery operated - this Human Transportation Device is capable of going 20Km (17miles) before recharging, and move over all terrain's (sand, tar, etc), and is designed to allow sidewalk use... Therefore you can kick back, chill out and hop a ride on this kinky machine into Varsity... Nice one!

The Segway™ HT, as it's known, could well rid the streets of evil cars and that - especially when the makers are planing on introducing a trailer type thing so you can do your shopping or dump you friend(s) into it (anyone/ thing up to 110Kgs [300lbs]).

Now for the troubling part... This little beauty will only be commercially available late 2002, it will retail at around £1400, and I don't know about you - but I'm thinking, "Where the hell am I going to park the bastard?" "Will it work in the SNOW?", and "even though the128 bit security key (sexy) is a great security feature - what's stopping some nutter from picking the 36Kg beast up and High Tailing his/her ass off along with your new toy?"

I'll give it to the boys and girls at Segway for developing something that COULD change the world. But it should be remembered that I think that a lot more will be needed to make that change... First off, what if it's raining - a poor South African boy like me can't handle the rain and therefore would opt for my Porsche cum Fiesta to trek my dry backside to class. And I'm pretty sure you'd agree on that one too.
Secondly, at a top speed of 20miles per hour - this one is definitely for curb usage unless you wanna become pavement pizza courtesy of some 10ton truck. Therefore, crossing roads are going to be tricky with that sidewalk step down and up at either end of the road.
And although this will be sweet as a way to get home quick after a night at the Union and £1 a Drink - where are you going to put it on you night out (or anywhere you go)? Oh and if everyone got one - how would you identify yours?
Plus the security issues and the simple fact that its going to cost £1400 - total madness...

Find out more on this sexy contraption at it's very own website: www.segway.com