Don't know what Ginger is? We know what it isn't.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
January 11, 2001
You don't know Ginger. Heck, nobody does.
At this point, we know more about what Ginger is not than what it is. It's apparently not a medical invention, a spice, a cute dog or a Hollywood starlet stranded on a tropical island.
But we do know this: The secret invention is apparently some kind of machine. It has already drawn the endorsement of visionary folks such as Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos, Apple Computer's Steve Jobs and venture capitalist John Doerr. And the Harvard Business School Press has paid $250,000 for a book about Ginger, even though it doesn't know squat about what it is, according to Inside.com, which first reported the book deal Tuesday.
One of its investors, Credit Suisse First Boston, says that when Ginger comes out in 2002, it'll make inventor Dean Kamen richer than Bill Gates. Doerr says it'll be as important as the World Wide Web. And Jobs has been quoted as saying that "If enough people see the machine, you won't have to convince them to architect cities around it. It'll just happen."
Kamen is a 49-year-old inventor from Manchester, N.H., who's been likened to a cross between Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. His inventions included practical stuff such as a portable insulin pump and a wheelchair that can climb stairs.
Until, that is, he invented Ginger, a machine that -- at minimum -- generates hype like there's no tomorrow.
-- Staff reports and news services
