Kamen rides it

So, will it (a.k.a Ginger and Segway) revolutionize urban life as the press-hype surrounding its initial disclosure dared predict? Probably not.

First off, it’s expensive. On top of that, it weighs 65 lbs, making it a real monster to drag home on an empty battery. But then again, it’s not so heavy that it can’t easily be grabbed and tossed into the back of someone else’s pickup truck.

And anyway, they’ll be banned from municipal sidewalks the split second some 18-month-old toddler gets crushed and paralyzed for life. Teenagers will re-jigger them, make them go very fast, and break their necks in Extreme Ginger exhibitions in front of admiring babes, leading to further restrictions by official killjoys. Small children will ride them down stairs, to very bad outcomes.” At least, The Register concludes, dogs will love them.

On the topic, someone on a mailing list I receive comments that they must not have had their acronym checker working the day they decided to call this the Segway Human Transporter.