Wired had an article about this guy Dean Kamen a few months ago. I'll have to go back and take a look at it. Supposedly, he is developing a top secret technology product that is going to "change the world." Unfortunately, nobody knows what it is. MSNBC has this story about journalist Steve Kemper, who has been documenting the story from the inside, selling the rights to his book on the development of the technology for $250K - even though he wasn't allowed to reveal anything about the device to the publisher shelling out the dough. Most intriguing is reports of a meeting between Kamen and Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, and John Doerr (super VC.) Apparently, if we are to believe Kemper who clearly stands to gain from any amount of hype, these three techno luminaries were completely blown away by the demonstration. Dig these quotes from the article:
Bezos is quoted as saying that IT “...is a product so revolutionary,
you’ll have no problem selling it. The question is, are people going to be
allowed to use it?”
Jobs is quoted as saying: “...If enough people see the machine you
won’t have to convince them to architect cities around it. It’ll just
happen.”
Kemper says the invention will “profoundly
affect our environment and the way people live worldwide. It will be an
alternative to products that are dirty, expensive, sometimes dangerous and
often frustrating, especially for people in the cities.”
O.K., I'll bite. What is this thing? Supposedly we'll know in 2002. (When I first read that 2002 date I thought, "Oh great, another thing that won't hit the market for years..." and then I realized that 2002 is next year! Damn the future is going fast.)
Salon has an article too. Pretty much the same (lack of) information.
Well, it's almost 2002. And it looks like we're about to find something out about IT, aka Ginger. Cnet says that Goodmorning America will break the story next week. Get that speculative hype machine ready to roll.
some woman who was hawking her America The Beautiful book on charlie rose last night mentioned it. i guess she was a reporter for abc and was working on the story but she wouldnt talk about it. we would all have to wait and see.
Here's a page by some folks who are way too interested in all this. I guess we'll know on Monday. I downloaded the video from the goodmorning america teaser they have already run. Of course it doesn't tell you anything.
In the "energy starved" late 1970's Portland's major newspaper, The Oregonian, published an article which stated that an important new source of energy was going to be unveiled on network television. My family tuned in and watched what turned out to be a prime time half hour infomercial launching the "The Energizer Battery"
To this day I'm a Duracel man.
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Bezos is quoted as saying that IT “...is a product so revolutionary, you’ll have no problem selling it. The question is, are people going to be allowed to use it?”
Jobs is quoted as saying: “...If enough people see the machine you won’t have to convince them to architect cities around it. It’ll just happen.”
Kemper says the invention will “profoundly affect our environment and the way people live worldwide. It will be an alternative to products that are dirty, expensive, sometimes dangerous and often frustrating, especially for people in the cities.”
O.K., I'll bite. What is this thing? Supposedly we'll know in 2002. (When I first read that 2002 date I thought, "Oh great, another thing that won't hit the market for years..." and then I realized that 2002 is next year! Damn the future is going fast.)
- jim 1-10-2001 5:25 pm
Salon has an article too. Pretty much the same (lack of) information.
- jim 1-10-2001 5:34 pm
Well, it's almost 2002. And it looks like we're about to find something out about IT, aka Ginger. Cnet says that Goodmorning America will break the story next week. Get that speculative hype machine ready to roll.
- jim 11-30-2001 7:12 pm
some woman who was hawking her America The Beautiful book on charlie rose last night mentioned it. i guess she was a reporter for abc and was working on the story but she wouldnt talk about it. we would all have to wait and see.
- dave 11-30-2001 10:29 pm
Here's a page by some folks who are way too interested in all this. I guess we'll know on Monday. I downloaded the video from the goodmorning america teaser they have already run. Of course it doesn't tell you anything.
- jim 12-01-2001 10:10 pm
In the "energy starved" late 1970's Portland's major newspaper, The Oregonian, published an article which stated that an important new source of energy was going to be unveiled on network television. My family tuned in and watched what turned out to be a prime time half hour infomercial launching the "The Energizer Battery"
To this day I'm a Duracel man.
- steve 12-01-2001 10:11 pm