OT: Ginger isn't Segway

In the latest twist to the long-running Ginger saga, it's now being rumoured that the two-wheeled device unveiled by inventor Dean Kamen last December isn't in fact the real deal.

The claim revolves around inconsistencies between the description of Ginger contained in publicity for a book written by journalist Steve Kemper and the actual scooter-like invention (see www.silicon.com/a41960 for the background). There are also some alleged patent irregularities.

Then Segway was unveiled - and the world said: 'Is that it?'

Since then, ginger-chat site administrator 'Spliff' has examined Kemper's book proposal in some detail, and has taken a fine-tooth comb to the patents Kamen has registered, and found significant evidence to suggest Segway is not the thing which blew Bezos and Jobs away. Kemper's book proposal seems to suggest that Kamen began work on Segway in 1995, but no serious development took place until 1998. And yet a patent for a similar device was filed in 1994.

As Spliff writes: "US patent number 5,701,965 shows an early variation of the Segway Human Transporter, similar to the one later found in the newer Segway scooter patents. THIS patent was filed on May 27, 1994. And my timeline shows that Kamen first conceived GINGER around December 1995."

News source: silicon.com