Dialogue: Ginger? I wonder what IT really is

A couple of weeks ago I read a tiny article about a thing called Project Ginger or IT. While little is known about what IT is, speculation suggests IT could be a transportation device and, according to one of the founders of Amazon.com, it's so revolutionary that the creator, Dean Kamen, will have no trouble selling it.

Probably not, specially since Steve Jobs of Apple Computers described IT as the most significant invention since the PC, and a major venture capitalist has tipped IT to become bigger than the web.

The next thing I know Time magazine is claiming IT has the power to make Ginger's inventor richer than Microsoft's Bill Gates. If nothing else, you've got to admire the marketing strategy that generates such a buzz without ever being specific as to what the buzz is about.

Despite the lack of hard facts, the hype has attracted some big investors, including a six-figure book advance from Harvard Business Press and it has little more idea than me as to what the product is.

Admittedly, though, IT's inventor does have an excellent pedigree. He's been responsible for several medical inventions, including a portable dialysis machine and IBot, a wheelchair that can climb stairs. Kamen has also been the recipient of an American National Medal of Technology, the highest accolade given to scientists and inventors by the United States Government.

In the proposal for the book on the project, Kamen is quoted as saying Ginger will "profoundly affect our environment and the way people live. IT will be an alternative to products that are dirty, expensive, sometime dangerous and often frustrating, especially for people living in cities."

Interestingly, Kamen himself has poured the only dampener on the frenzy by saying that "the invention is not as earth-shattering as it's being made out to be."

Whatever IT is, the launch date is set for 2002 and I can hardly wait. The man behind it all, who claims to hold the world record for the longest uninterrupted period wearing denim, has my interest completely piqued while my imaginings have shot off on a completely space-age tangent. An anti-gravity machine, that's what it'll be. Or hoverboards or personal rocket packs.

There are websites about Ginger's potential specifications you can visit but a quick click round a few of them and I'm still no better informed. More intrepid sleuths than I have at least unearthed a patent application in Dean Kamen's name in the Personal Mobility Methods and Vehicles category. The submission includes an illustration of a device that looks suspiciously like a scooter.

I don't imagine, though, that someone who has so tantalisingly played the media and flies a chopper to work is going to lay his Big Thing out at the World International Property Organisation for everyone to see. I bet that application's just a red herring to lead us off the track of more glamorous contraptions, such as personal jet propulsion units or helicopter hats.

I know the idea of television, before it became common household furniture, seemed way too far out for people to believe it could exist. Transmitting particles of light? Impossible. But it is possible and now, I wonder, is it realistic to transmit particles of people?

Sure, I don't want to be first in line for such an experiment, yet if a few rats or monkeys or other unfortunate lab-type animals were successfully sent to another room in one piece, I'd definitely think about going fifth or sixth.

And the name: why Ginger? Is it a reference to ginger's healing properties, including an ability to ease travel sickness? Is it called Ginger because it'll enable a person to move like Ginger Rogers, dancing through rush hour crowds, the technological transportation equivalent of being able to do whatever Fred Astaire was doing - only backwards and on heels?

I should probably mention here that I have a couple of inventions in the pipeline. They could revolutionise life as we know it and change the way we shop drive and fly. Admittedly, I haven't won any awards for inventing things (yet) but I think I might be on to something big.

Perhaps someone out there might like to flick some venture capital my way? Or buy the rights to the book about my brain wave? Any takers? Anyone? Trust me, there might be a patent pending.