Britain's Heathrow airport has already made plans to step its game up once this year with a swank new parking garage, but the latest development most certainly outshines the prior. Reportedly, a network of 18 four-seater pods will be unveiled within two years after Terminal 5 opens next March in order to shuttle passengers "to and from a business car park to the new terminal building." Hailed as the UK's "first personal rapid transport system (PRT)," this energy-efficient, battery powered system will enable the driverless pods to be summoned on demand by individual families and taken to a variety of nearby locations. Creators claim that users will be thrilled by having their own taxi of sorts without having to ride alongside strangers, but not surprisingly, each pod will indeed support CCTV surveillance. Hey, it's Big Brother or John Doe -- pick your poison.

It seems the makers of everyone's favorite self-balancing scooter (sorry i-swing) have finally realized the average consumer might need a little time to come up with the $5,000 the Segway's price tag demands. The company's execs have tapped the consumer financing arm of General Electric to instate a loan program, much like the one car dealerships have been using for decades, letting buyers pay in monthly installments. This comes as part of an effort, which may eventually include the sale of shares to the public through an IPO, to regain company funds lost to lower-than-expected sales. Of course buyers will have to qualify for the loan and accept the increase in total cost that'll come from interest, so rich guys like crooked hand-held gaming executives will be better off paying cash, then trying not to crash their shiny new Segway into pole at 125 mph.

[Via ZDNet]