Segway rolls out new models, but will they sell?
Segway LLC is introducing three new models of its self-balancing, two-wheeled machines.
A rack transforms one version into a single-person golf cart, and wide tires outfit another for off-road riding. The final model looks more like previous versions, but comes in sportier colors like red and yellow.
Each new Segway also features better batteries for longer ranges. They can travel twice as far, up to 24 miles in some cases.
But suggested retail prices aren’t coming down. Each one costs at least $5,000 with the new batteries.
Analysts have been skeptical about the company’s future, arguing that prices must drop sharply for Segways to be mass-market successes. The machines were unveiled in December 2001. A September 2003 recall revealed only about 6,000 had sold.
Company officials claimed U.S. sales doubled last year in a 10-week period staring on Oct. 25, but the privately held company doesn’t release financial figures.
Moore honored for contributions
Intel Corp. co-founder Gordon Moore, who famously predicted the speed in which the semiconductor industry would innovate, has won a lifetime achievement award for contributions to communications technology.
The award from the Marconi Society at Columbia University comes 40 years after Moore wrote what would come to be known as “Moore’s Law” — that the number of transistors on a chip would roughly double every 18 months. It has held true since then.
Darcy Gerbarg, Marconi’s executive director, said the prediction drove the industry to innovate in order to meet Moore’s goals.
Unlike recipients of Marconi’s annual achievement awards, Moore did not necessarily have one invention or development that radically changed communications, Gerbarg said. But his prediction, as well as the work that grew out of Intel, drove an entire industry and affects just about everything in communications today, she said.
Cybercafes say law goes too far
Cybercafe owners are complaining about a new rule that requires them to record personal details of every visitor to help police track perpetrators of Internet-related crimes.
Police in Bangalore sent hundreds of letters in the past month asking cybercafes to keep records of visitors in case police want to investigate virus attacks, online fraud and terrorism. Under the rule, a visitor must produce a photo identity card before beginning to browse. Login and log-out times will also be noted.
Internet users expressed concerns about intrusion of privacy and police harassment, while the cafe owners fear a drop in customers.
“People ask why they must part with personal details just to send an e-mail.” said G. Satish, co-owner of Cyberia, a downtown Internet shop that caters to tourists. “Many have walked out of my shop after being asked to register themselves.”