Tweel & Segway

I often find myself amazed by what people dream up as the next big thing. I remember when the Segway PT was first being touted by its inventor Dean Kamen, and I'd read about his giving it the codeword "Ginger" ... looking at the first pictures I ever saw of one, I was astounded at its brilliance - that was until I saw one shooting up and down a boulevard in Paris, not far from the Shakespeare & Co bookshop. People were ooh-ing and ahh-ing at it, but I quickly realised that it looked like a stupid and dangerous invention, almost as loopy as the Sinclair C5.

But today I saw an invention on another blog that really got me thinking. It's called the Tweel, the name apparently being a portmanteau of tyre and wheel. It's basically an experimental tyre developed by Michelin that doesn't use air so can't either burst or become flat. Apparently, though, it's very noisy over 50mph, so it's got to be developed further I guess. I've often worried about having a tyre burst on me on the motorway, so I'll have to keep my eye on this one.