The Verge
2015 was literally and figuratively the year of the hoverboard. While everyone was talking about the self-balancing scooters, two companies showed off skateboard-shaped boards that actually hovered a few inches above the Earth: Lexus with the "Slide" board, and Arx Pax with its second generation Hendo Hoverboard. Now, just days before the new year, another company called ArcaSpace is taking a shot at making the mythical hoverboard.
You might not have heard of Franky Zapata, but anyone in the UK could tell you he's the crazy Frenchman who has a self-made hoverboard.
Failed miserably?!? He made it about half way! Seriously, when it comes to distance, "failed miserably" normally means shortly after starting.
The Verge: Franky Zapata plans to cross the Channel on the Flyboard Air on Thursday
The man who invented the Flyboard Air has been barred from flying his jet-powered hoverboard in France, sparking a debate over the country’s policies on innovation.
God, I can't stop chuckling at this video. I mean I'm all for the progression of technology, but I'm sitting here looking at this unattractive, $20,000 flat board that can hover relatively motionless in the air for six minutes, and they're telling me it's going to help me "achieve my dreams."
Please don't insult the hoverboard by calling this a hoverboard. I know they're fictional, and they still are. This thing is a floating mattress powered by 1.21 gigawatts of pure ear drum bursting noise and air. Embarrassing. It'll probably require a bolt of lightning to charge the fucking thing and all.
looks like good early tech. but also looks boring.
that video...got some jokes.
they say "slightly larger than a skateboard"...i'd like to know their definition of slightly.
"we knew we wanted the board to have a friendly, familiar shape"...coz rectangles are friendly.
"ive always wanted to create a commercially available product for the masses"....that price point doesn't scream masses to me.
its all fine and well to create the first of something, but they shouldnt make a BS video about it. they should just be honest and say, its a bit more bulky than we wanted because technology hasnt caught up with our vision. we went with a rectangle shape coz it seemed the most practical and gives us more surface area to work with and the ridiculous price is more for the hardware and manufacturing so its not for the masses at this point.
I mean its cool and all but i dont think its the savior the world has been looking for the way these delusional people seem to think.
Its so funny when you hear a design team talk about how they spent so much time and effort to make the perfect shape and all this and then they show you a basic shape rectangle and its like ....and you got paid for this?