'It', or codenamed 'Ginger', is an invention created by a man named Dean Kamen, the inventor of the iBot, a crazy gyroscope driven, autobalancing (on two wheels!) sort of wheelchair replacement. If you haven't read about it, go here and be sure to check out the video on the site, its not Jetson's aged, but when the fucking thing stands up, well, you just have to see it.

Anywho, this 'it', has investors and tech industry moguls scrambling to get a piece of the pie seeming as it has been touted as being 'more revolutionary that the P.C.", to kinda paraphrase quote, I'm too lazy to look up the exact quote. That, and that it will have the world running around trying to retro-fit cities and campuses and other public places to suit it better.

The only thing said about it is that it isn't a medical invention (something Kamen has been famous for in the past), and it will be an "alternative to products that are dirty, expensive, and frustrating, especially for people in the cities."

The only thing that clicking kinda funny like in my head is the fact that if he going to try to sell this thing exclusively, and of course he is, otherwise investors wouldn't waste their time with it, he's had to have patented it. And since patent records are free to anyone who wants them, there must be some hanky-panky going on with the patent if the news investigators haven't picked up on it yet. My guess is they will, and before the projected 2002 unveiling, its just a matter of time.

So what could it be? My guess is on some sort of personal transportation device sharing similarities to the iBot's balancing design, but like I said, thats my GUESS.

Here are some news strories about 'it':

MSNCB
ABC News
CNN
The obligitory Slashdot blurb, and following user commentary