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One thing I just don't get, though. How does the Segway deal with obstacles? Let's say I'm cruising around at the top speed of around 12 miles per hour and take my eyes off the road and hit a curb. Do I just flip onto my bean? I also find it fascinating that you control it by thinking, think stop and it stops, think turn and it turns. Maybe I don't have as much faith in the human mind as Kamen, but how can people that don't think straight drive straight? Will psychiatrists have to give the driving tests?

Software Really Is Rocket Science

A faithful online reader liked my line about Dick Cheney's arteries so much he contributed a NetNews item. It seems that NASA has been building some kick-butt applications for some time and now wants to share hundreds of them with the world -- as open source apps. Now you can get everything from graphics to decision-making to weather applications. Space aficionados can even get software that dates back to the Apollo program.

My favorite of the bunch has got to be The Pyrolaser Optical Pyrometer Operating System. It's already on my Christmas list. Check out www.openchannelsoftware.com for more details.

Get It While It's Cheap

Like vultures, the large carriers waited hungrily as Exodus went through its death throes. And when the end was truly near, and the price really cheap, one of them swept in and spent somewhere between $750 and $850 million to pick at the carcass. For the price, Cable & Wireless got some 3,500 customers and 30 data centers.

The good news is that most Exodus customers will not be left in the lurch. They will have their service provided by a bigger, stronger, more stable company. C&W gets a good deal, Exodus customers get service, and life goes on. Not a bad arrangement.

Was It Worth It IBM?

In the old days IBM tried hard to be square. The uniform was a dark blue suit, a bland tie and a white shirt. Not exactly a rowdy bunch. Nowadays, the company is trying just as hard, maybe too hard, to be hip.