IT to be revealed on Good Morning America

[Joe Ross]

I've heard that IT is going to be "revealed" on Good Morning America on December 3rd (next monday).

Diane Sawyer made the announcement on today's show. I've seen many posts about it on various message boards, but there is nothing about it on the GMA website.

For those of you who don't know Good Morning America is on ABC at 7am.

[Joe Ross]

I've already been asked if I had confirmation. If I had confirmation it would be in the general forum ;)

Here is one place you can read: http://www.theitquestion.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6308&FORUM_ID=1&CAT_ID=1&Topic_Title=ONE+WEEK&Forum_Title=IT+discussion I've seen it on two other message boards as well and an audio file that someone captured from todays episode with Diane Sawyer's announcement.

[Wayne Doenges]

I thought "IT" was revealed on South Park by Mr. Garrison :D

[D.J. Fluck]

Thats terrible..lol...but on the subject of IT...we can only wait till monday...im having my mom tape it for me...but i figured Dean would reveal it at nationals 2002...oh well maybe not...

[Jay5780]

Well I think this puts the proof in the pudding below is a link to the audio from GMA announcing IT being revealed.

I am also working on undisputable confirmation from ABC, I am a graphic designer from local ABC affiliate channel 6 in Providence RI and have conntacted ABC directly.

Jay

GMA AUDIO ABOUT IT (http://jedstar.com/GMA_IT_Announcement.wav)

[David Kelly]

if we didn't start mock congress that day, i would come in to school tardy just to see it. i'll have to have someone tape it for me... david who is angry because there is no way that he can miss mock congress :mad:

[gniticxe]

Originally posted by Wayne Doenges
I thought "IT" was revealed on South Park by Mr. Garrison :D
Ah hahahahaha!! Wow, that was a good episode... Now, place your mouth on the control stick.... hehe. I'll never forget the scene of the incredibly crowded store and the people with "IT" outside in the parking lot going around and crashing into things. I sure hope Dean's IT is nothing like that one at all.

[E. The Kidd]

I think I know what the "IT" is. Its called Ginger and its a powered scooter who' only emission is water. I found Ginger as well as, a 3D printer, and self healing plastic a while ago in the July issue of Maxim magazine (the article is stardate 2001).

I'll type the article up before dec 3rd so everyone can see what it says

[mnkysp6353]

I thought IT was the wheel chair thing? Ehh? sorry if this is a stupid answer

[Wayne Doenges]

Nope, that was the I-Bot.
I saw it at EPCOT and on stage with Dean balancing on the teeter-totter. Was really amazing.

Wayne D.

[Nate Smith]

Originally posted by team 713
I think I know what the "IT" is. Its called Ginger and its a powered scooter who' only emission is water. I found Ginger as well as, a 3D printer, and self healing plastic a while ago in the July issue of Maxim magazine (the article is stardate 2001).

I'll type the article up before dec 3rd so everyone can see what it says

The scooter you're referring to was one of the more common theories for the identity of IT/Ginger when all the news was going around about it previously. However, the majority of the scooter theory is based on a patent dated several years ago, so that causes some doubt to be placed on that theory. Also, some of the quotes regarding IT don't exactly seem to match up with the whole idea of a scooter. The power supply it uses perhaps, but not a scooter itself...

[A. Leese]

I won't be able to catch that show. About then I'll be in the band room doing any homework I forgot to do the night before. :( If only Mr Parrish would turn the TV on ABC that morning when school starts instead of our usual morning news (our school's TV production does a daily news show). Oh well.

~Angela who is sure to hear all about the unveiling of Ginger from someone on here anyway

[D.J. Fluck]

im going to tape it...hopefully i can use my video camera and get the file on a cd so i can upload the clip on the web at school on the T-1....hopefully my mom remembers to turn on GMA...my dad usually watches Imus on MSNBC....hopefully i can convince him not to watch him for a day...

[Kyle Gilbert]

Use your video camera to get it on cd? What do you mean? Actually video-tape the tv?

[D.J. Fluck]

ill plug in my video camera to the TV and tape directly to the tape in the camera, then use my link cable to the computer to transfer the segment or just the highlights onto my computer and burn the video onto a CD

[Brandon Martus]

I'll take some screenshots as its being broadcast, and post them asap on Monday.

(that is, if my dad still has his TV card software installed)

[Brian Wolz]

:) Yeah, its definitly not the wheelchair. I also saw him, at the NYC regional, it was amazing! I think that its not going to be the scooter, because you would think that if the patent stuff was reveled he would have just said, thats it. Well it also probobly true that its going to be announced December 3, because I remember last year hearing that it was going to be a year before they release what it was! I cant wait !:D :p

[Clark Gilbert]

Ok first off i think IT is powered by Ginger.....(dont know if thats already been said) and i think Ginger is a sterling engine (i think of a lot of people think that) plus Small Parts has small sterling engines in their cataloges now....and i think IT will either be some sort of scooter/bike/or even the extreme of a car...


:D

[gniticxe]

I'm wondering how much people think IT will cost. Dean's last invention seems to have had a limited market, making it quite costly. Just wondering what you all think about who will use IT and make a guess on how much it might cost to buy/use. I'm betting electric powered (so use is on your electric bill) and around $8,000. What do you think?

[Dan 550]

Are Sterling Engines compact high-powered magnetic brushless DC motors?

[Brian Wolz]

:confused: Speaking of having the futuristic motor, I wonder (now i hanvn't gone insane), if we will use the motor in our robot for the 2002 FRC. Hey, its a thought, maybe a crazy one, but you never know!:D

I guess we will just have to wait and see.

[Clark Gilbert]

Isnt it an engine that runs off its own heat that it produces...

:confused: :confused:

(i see that they have mini sterling engines on the small parts site under the holiday cateloge that u can put on coffee cups to power them....)

[gniticxe]

hey clark,
i hadn't heard of them until you mentioned them...could you post a link so we can all be so informed? ;) Finally getting that engergy lost to heat into usable energy is pretty incredible if thats what it does.

[Tom Schindler]

Originally posted by gniticxe
I'm wondering how much people think IT will cost. Dean's last invention seems to have had a limited market, making it quite costly. Just wondering what you all think about who will use IT and make a guess on how much it might cost to buy/use. I'm betting electric powered (so use is on your electric bill) and around $8,000. What do you think?

I read somewhere on www.theitquestion.com that IT will cost about $2000.

Also

anyone up for some fun detective work?? go to www.theItAnswer.com - blank page right? wrong. View the source of this page. look at the comment in the html. it reads, "A I, s 13: courtyard - palace of LITE - AQUILAE"

A quick search on yahoo and we have Act one, Scene 13 of the rough draft of Star Wars. It reads as follows:

"13. COURTYARD - PALACE OF LITE - AQUILAE

A low, sleek "landspeeder," (an auto-like transport which travels a few feet
above the ground on a magnetic field), glides into the courtyard of the palace
of Aquilae. The planet is desert wilderness, but the palace is a sparkling
oasis, with low concrete walls and great turrets spilling over with foliage
from rooftop gardens. The speeder stops before an enormous shaded corridor.
Fountains line the beautiful and highly polished, tiled walkway. Two young
boys, Biggs (7) and Windom (5) are helped out of the speeder by Amber, a one-
armed bodyguard dressed in the flowing white robes of the Aquilaean military.
The two boys run through the long corridors, yelling and screaming, their
little footsteps echoing throughout the palace."


Interesting huh???

Tom

[Clark Gilbert]

Where did u get the idea to look for that?? That's crazy....(even though they probably did that on purpose)

:)

[gniticxe]

Is there a way to find out who owns that domain name? If its the same people as www.theitquestion.com , then its cool...but no big deal. Anyone else, esp. someone close to Dean who could be working on IT, and its, well i suppose just as cool, but with a little hope. ;)

[Kyle Fenton]

I remember a while back that Steve Jobs was raving about IT. He said it should get a price tag of $1,000 for the standard version and $2,500 for the advanced version. And if IT is a scooter that would be about that same price as what other gas powered scooters cost. I think it could be even lower because there is a much bigger audiences that for the iBot. The iBot is designed for people who are handicap and have use of their arms, which are unfortunately not a lot of people. Most people in wheelchairs have none or very little motor control of their arms. But IT would definitely have a much better audience for Kaman's invention.

[gniticxe]

Now I'm all excited.....calming down.....
I know this is a stretch if its a scooter-type design (from the patent drawings), but I wonder if it will be street legal. At the moment, I'm looking for a car...and IT would definately be cheaper (even the 'advanced' version) and overall cooler than a car - because it is IT. I'm prolly just getting my hopes up though... guess i'll just have to wait and see

[Katie Reynolds]

Are Sterling Engines compact high-powered magnetic brushless DC motors?

I believe the Sterling Engine is a hydrogen-powered engine that runs off of purified water - and does, in fact, run off of the heat it produces... I think so anyway. Does anyone know for sure?

- Katie

"Don't ever compromise what you believe!"

[BSMFIRST]

Stirling engines have been around for a long time (almost 300 years), lots of big companies have researched them but no one has made them practical.

They don't run off of any particular fuel source (which is good) they can run off of any heat source. The efficiency of the engine is actually based on the high and low temperatures; a big temperature differential is more efficient.

You'll probably get introduced to them in college physics or thermodynamics (ie they're not that mysterious or archaic.)

Dan

[BSMFIRST]

Originally posted by Brian Wolz
Well it also probobly true that its going to be announced December 3, because I remember last year hearing that it was going to be a year before they release what it was! I cant wait !:D :p

This sounds right, I'm pretty sure the law is that you can only obtain a patent if your item has been in the "public domain" for a year or less; so it's possible the scooter patent Dean has is not Ginger/IT and Dean could obtain his patent for this thing after revealing it.

Dan

[Mike Soukup]

When in doubt, I go to one of my favorite sites http://www.howstuffworks.com/stirling-engine.htm

Mike

[E. The Kidd]

The Nuclear Scooter
Walking upright's for Neanderthals...It's high time you had a hydrogen-powered personal-mobility vehicle.

It's enjoyed hype the Y2K bug would have envied. Apple core Steve Jobs said cities would evolve around the wonders of it. Investors predicted the inventor would be richer than Bill Gates. God reportedly said He wished He'd thought of it. The "it" in question is code named Ginger,a secret transportation device whose inventor declares it "an alternative to products that are dirty, expensive, sometimes dangerous, and often frustrating, especially for people in cities." An alternative to cars? We're listening.

First, who's the crackpot? Ginger's inventor, physicist Dean Kamen, holds over 100 patents. In addition to a palatial estate and a New Hampshire-based company called DEKA (DEan KAmen--clever, clever, clever), he has his own tiny island off Connecticut, complete with its own currency and a replica of Stone-henge. His most recent invention was the IBOT, a wheelchair that transverses rough terrain and can even climb stairs.

Ginger is still shrouded in secrecy, but the patent applications are full of info. It's described as a "personal mobility vehicle" and it looks like a h***of a lot like a "scooter." We're not joking ... but this is an ordinary scooter like Lamborghini full of supermodels is an ordinary carpool. Ginger mimics, through internal gyroscopes and stabilizing sensors, the complex way an upright human maintains balance. It's a technique Kamen calls Dynamic Stablilzation(and has trademarked, so watch your...). It will apparently follow the movements of the driver-turn your body slightly left and it will make a left turn.

And that's not the groundbreaking part. Kamen has also filed patents for a "cantilevered crankshaft Stirling cycle machine," an external-combustion engine that heats a gas to turn pistons, much like a steam engine. This innovative motor runs on hydrogen, producing a smooth, quiet ride, and belching out only one emission: pure water.

Ginger won't begin production until at least fall, Kamen is intent on keeping his project secret--oops!--so better-funded companies won't catch up.(Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Honda, and GM are working on hydrogen/gasoline powered hybrids--experts feel by 2010 hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles will be common.) But no need to wait--go ahead smash your Razor scooter into smithereens right now. Trust us on this one.

p.s. this in no way represents the beliefs of Team 713 (Rice High School& Con Edison) and its users or Chiefdelphi.com (and its in the July 2001 issue of Maxim if you were wondering)

[Greg Ross]

Originally posted by Kyle Fenton
Most people in wheelchairs have none or very little motor control of their arms.
:confused: Do you know this for a fact? My impression is that there are many more people in wheelchairs who have use of their arms than who don't.

[Jon Lawton]

Originally posted by gniticxe
Is there a way to find out who owns that domain name? If its the same people as www.theitquestion.com , then its cool...but no big deal. Anyone else, esp. someone close to Dean who could be working on IT, and its, well i suppose just as cool, but with a little hope. ;)

For what it's worth...

From Whois:

domain: theitanswer.com
owner-address: Fred Pyen
owner-address: 205 Beaumont Road
owner-address: 20904
owner-address: Silver Spring, MD
owner-address: Maryland
owner-address: United States of America
admin-c: FP182-GANDI
tech-c: FP183-GANDI
bill-c: FP184-GANDI
nserver: NS.NEWDREAM.NET 207.155.127.155
nserver: ns2.newdream.net 216.240.131.131
reg_created: 2001-01-17 04:32:46
expires: 2002-01-17 04:32:46
created: 2001-01-17 10:32:47
changed: 2001-01-17 10:32:47

Domain Name: THEITQUESTION.COM

Administrative Contact, Billing Contact:
Bottorff, James (JB42853) jbott321@yahoo.com
Bottorff,James
2055 Reading Road, #500
Cincinnati, OH 45202
513-768-6050 (FAX) 123 123 1234

[Adrian Wong]

Here's a more interesting WHOIS:

DEKA - NEW POWER CONCEPTS (MYSTIRLINGSCOOTER-DOM)
340 Commercial Street
MANCHESTER, NH 03101
US

Domain Name: MYSTIRLINGSCOOTER.COM

Administrative Contact:
Deka Research & Development (EBQZSUUQUO) mritchie@dekaresearch.com
Deka Research & Development
340 Commercial Street
MANCHESTER, NH 03101
US
6036695139 fax: 6036229099
Technical Contact:
WorldNIC Name Host (HOST-ORG) namehost@WORLDNIC.NET
VeriSign, Inc.
21355 Ridgetop Circle
Dulles, VA 20166
US
1-888-642-9675
Billing Contact:
DEKA - NEW POWER CONCEPTS (Y7871-OR) jstrimling@dekaresearch.com
DEKA - NEW POWER CONCEPTS
340 Commercial Street
MANCHESTER, NH 03101
US
6036695139 fax: 6036229099

There are similar domains registered by DEKA and ACROS, such as: StirlingElectric.com, Flywheels.com, MicroStirling.com, MyStirlingScooter.com, StirlingScooter.com...

[Brandon Martus]

My guess is, they could've bought all those domains for one (or more) of these three reasons.

a) to spark rumors
b) to control rumors, by making those domains unavailable
c) it is a scooter, and they're preparing to use all those domains

[BSMFIRST]

Good Morning America had a longer tease this morning; one of their reporters went to Dean's place and has seen IT (He agrees it will be "bigger than pantyhose.")

Dean will be in studios Monday and IT, supposedly, is already there. Download video of it (the teaser that is...not "IT" ;) at the link.

http://www.jedstar.com/ginger/

Dan

[Jessica Boucher]

Wired article (http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,48703,00.html)

A quite interesting article about "why now?"

It also makes me tempted to email Wired and tell them about how his FIRST-ers were under the impression that he'd reveal it at competition....so there's more than just the opinion of random people from www.theitquestion.com . . . .but something's holding me back.

[patrickrd]

Tom from 177 gave me this link today and asked me to share it with you all. Basically confirms that IT will be revealed on Monday on GMA. Enjoy

http://www.stearneonline.com/ginger/GMA_FRI_lg.mpg

Also, I stumbled upon an article:
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/ptech/11/30/ginger.unveiled.idg/index.html

[David Kelly]

here is a site will all the IT stuff that has been on GMA the past few days. it looks like they will have some video of the broadcast. http://jedstar.com/ginger/

[Brett]

Hmm, I also performed a whois on www.theitanswer.com, and the name that came up (Fred Pyen), apparently is just a geek, (a google search brings up several good hits.)

http://metascene.net

(Not definitive, but likely)

[Tom Fairchild]

Just to let everyone know, IT made front page news on Yahoo!'s main page. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/Tech/Ginger/ is the link, if you want to read up.

~Tom Fairchild~, who's just going to wait and see what happens with the whole thing.

[Adrian Wong]

This (http://www.theitquestion.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7062&FORUM_ID=1&CAT_ID=1&Topic_Title=This+Is+REALLY+IT%21+Sorry%21&Forum_Title=IT+discussion) doesn't look good. :(

I hope Dean delivers with something exciting. However, the current outlook appears dim. Alas, maybe all the hype got to me.

[D.J. Fluck]

thought that media hype would make it seem better than it really is...... thats what the media is good at....adding too much Hype to something....

Im not saying that IT isnt a big of a deal...it probably is...but what do i know..im a junior in high school...

[BSMFIRST]

I bet the Segway could balance the ramp in last year's game pretty easily just like the Ibot could climb the puck in '99....

[Jessica Boucher]

So does this mean we won't be seeing Dean give his speeches on the IBot anymore? Or will he attempt something, as the terms "Fred & Ginger" insinuate, a little more daring with the both of them?

[OtakuRob]

I don't think that this will in anyway take away from the IBOT.. Dean seems to cherish all the work he's ever done, so I think that we will probably see both at Nationals.. Who knows, maybe he'll get John Travolta to ride along in one of them...

[Clark Gilbert]

I think we will see IT/Segway at the kickoff


:)

[khssoccer16]

For all the TechnoKats...Mr. Byam has the GMA IT revealing on tape. FYI

[Joe Matt]

Jedstar.com just said "Nevermind, It's Just A Scooter".
Wonder if they will change it back?

If you are on Team 384, I have the video of all the publicity, including Headline News and Tech TV.