Sinclair dreams of 'flying {and electric} cars' (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

Personal flying machines will be a reality, home computer and electric car pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair has said.

He told BBC Radio 4's PM programme that soon it would be "economically and technically possible" to create flying cars for individuals.

Sir Clive is best-known for the Spectrum computer and his failed electric car effort, the C5.
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Sir Clive produced an electric powered bicycle, called the Zike, in 1992, but it too failed to capture the public's imagination.

His latest project is the A-Bike, a lightweight, foldable bicycle. But, he said, he still harboured hopes of returning to the electric car field.



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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7481940.stm

[pnorman]

1. For a very long time, I was a devoted fan of the Timex Sinclair computers.

I had several TS 1000s, and eagerly went to all the local Times Club meetings. What a great gang of devoted nerds! I still deeply regret getting rid of my TS 2068!: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Sinclair_2068

I was really overjoyed to finally get my hands on a floppy disk drive for it. It was manufactured by Timex Portugal (US operations had already ceased) and it held TWO disk drives. I forgot their capacity, but they sure were built STURDY! My recollection was that they were about $5 or $6 a pop, and being 3" were very difficult to obtain. Ah!! To be middle-aged once more!

pnorman

[hunter]

2. I still have my 2068 and you can't have it!!!

I haven't fired up the hardware recently, but like my favorite Atari 800XL, it also lives in the virtual reality of my desktop.

[pnorman]

3. SIGH!

The most FANTASTIC stuff was made available for those TS 1000s, and later the 2068! I had a replacement ROM for one of my TS 1000, that turned it into a FORTH machine. I recall another hardware device that I ordered from England, that allowed one to perform MAGIC at the ML level (sadly, well beyond me at that time). The expansion bus for the 2068, offered virtually UNLIMITED possibilities for the gifted experimenter (also well out of my reach). I also had a nifty EEPROM unit, that slid into that cartridge slot (details escape me now, but the zing remains in my memory).

But sadly, FCC approval was unaccountably delayed, and Timex missed the VITAL Christmas season for that year! That was the END, and Timex USA promptly went out of the computer bid'ness. Directly Ziff-Davis ceased publishing their Timex magazine. Oh how we Timexies carried on! Much tearing out of hair, wailing, and rending of garments! But the 2068 was well-built. The TS 1000 was NOT well-built, but we each had 5 or 6 of them in reserve. So the local (Seattle) Timex Club lasted for several years more. (SIGH! Oh! To be middle-aged once more!)

pnorman

[Fovea]

5. another FORTH programmer

Mr Moore's brilliant idea!

[kestrel91316]

4. Oh, yeah, flying cars will work SOOOOO well in Los Angeles,

where "Get outta my way, I'm in a hurry!" is the state motto.

[kentauros]

6. He can dream all he wants about personal flying vehicles...

...while I'll continue to have nightmares about giving that kind of power to people that can't even drive on the ground properly.

If such vehicles are not automated (that is, computer-controlled where no human operates it) then expect to see plenty of air-collisions and resulting disasters on the ground, once the wrecks and debris get there.