Move over Segway! - Sir Clive Sinclair

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/magazine/3125341.stm

"Sir Clive Sinclair, inventor of the fabled C5 electric tricycle, road tests the revolutionary Segway scooter... and announces secret plans for another pioneering new personal transporter."

The C5 from 1985:

http://www.nvg.ntnu.no/sinclair/vehicles/c5.htm

Clive Sinclair is a heck of a guy: he has invented and manufactured several things that have revolutionized several different industries or product lines, yet I don't think that any one of them has been a great commercial success for him....

At least he is having fun.

I had one of his computers about 22? years ago. Modded the heck out of it, ripped it apart and built it into a clunky full size keyboard from an old IBM mainframe since my fingers couldn't type on those little membrane pads.

Can't wait for the C6!

Zx-81!

My first 'puter.

Yes, I remember the good old Zed Ex! For most people it was thier first encounter with computers - a mere 1k of memory (expandable to a massive 64 k using third party ram packs), and the data was preserved on a domestic audiotape recorder! It had no sound, chunky mono graphics and UHF output! But we spent hours putting together programs to run on it! What fun we had in our mis-spent youth!

Wow, the Sinclair ZX-81 was my first computer too. I had a flaky one though. It would overheat and reset, often after I had spent much time typing out cheesy programs on the irritating membrane keyboard. That was so lame. LOL.

So glad technology has moved on. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/transport/story.jsp?story=431017

"A spokeswoman said: "It is a new product aimed at getting people around town, but we're not saying anything more."

Unlike the C5, which required its owners to risk all by driving on the road, the new vehicle, due to be launched next year, is understood to be designed for use on pavements."

Pavements.... does this mean sidewalks to North Americans?

[regarding the Segway] '...the originator of its would-be British rival believes he has spotted a gap in the market because the Segway is too heavy at 40kg (88lb) and too fast for crowded European streets.

Sir Clive told BBC News Online: "In London, there are lots of people milling around - a heavy vehicle like that ... and doing 15mph, if you hit someone it would just knock them for six."'

Knock them for six????

[ QUOTE ]
Pavements.... does this mean sidewalks to North Americans?

[/ QUOTE ] Yes
[ QUOTE ]
Knock them for six????

[/ QUOTE ] A cricketing term. In the game of cricket, the edge of the pitch is marked by a line called the Boundary. If a batsman (hitter ?) hits the ball hard enough for it to roll over the Boundary he scores four. If it flies over the boundary without touching the ground, he scores six.

So, to "knock something for six" means to hit it very hard indeed.

It appears our national cricket team needs to have these terms re-introduce. Perhaps nobody told them they could gain points by hitting the ball hard away from the other team?