SHARP INVENTION: But What Is IT?

Tuesday, 16 January 2001, 4:19 pm
Article: Guy MacGibbon

What should you be staying sharp for…

IT, an invention being developed by 49-year-old scientist Dean Kamen, is being kept so secret a wave of speculation about what IT is has spawned some inventive flights of fancy among the curious on the Web.

Kamen, who invented a portable insulin pump and a wheelchair that climbs stairs, said IT 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.''

Apple Computer founder Steve Jobs reportedly said: ''If enough people see the machine you won't have to convince them to architect cities around it. It'll just happen.''

Jeff Bezos is said to have started laughing a ''loud, honking laugh'' when IT was turned on.

Kamen apparently assembled two ITs in 10 minutes, using a screwdriver and hex wrenches from components that fit into a couple of large duffel bags and some cardboard boxes, to the amazement of Jobs and Bezos.

So what is IT? Did you guess IT was an “Anti-Gravity Personal Suite,” or a “refined uni-transportation system that eliminates the need for petroleum by using some other type of energy source”? Perhaps you guessed it was powered by an “onboard gyroscopal microprocessor unit (GMU)” or an “Inertial Thruster”?

LINKS:

http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?article_id=20218&pod_id=8
Read all about IT…

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http://www.blizzardmedia.com/
An alleged photo of IT

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