How Much Would You Pay To Own The World's First Hoverboard?
The future is here. Again.
Back in March, skateboarding legend Tony Hawk -- along with the team at FunnyOrDie and "Back to the Future" star Christopher Lloyd -- sadistically pranked the world with a video promoting the "HUVrTech" hoverboard. Millions of starry-eyed dreamers assumed we'd be floating through the streets like Marty McFly by Christmas 2014, but it was all a cruel CGI illusion:
After Doc Brown outright lied to us, it's difficult to believe in anything, let alone that the Hendo Hoverboard ("the world's first REAL hoverboard and hover developer kit") can deliver on its promises. But the company, which just released a video swearing by its technology and let reporters from Engadget give the board a test drive, has so far raised nearly $9,000 of its $250,000 Kickstarter goal. That's $1,000 short of what it'd cost for you to actually buy one.
According to Hendo, its technology uses "four disc-shaped hover engines" to "create a special magnetic field which literally pushes against itself, generating the lift which levitates our board off the ground." The board needs a special surface to work, the company says -- so you can't hover through school hallways or city squares to evade your bully just yet -- but one day, every one-horse town could have its own hoverpark, and that horse could be levitating too.
Hendo says it has much larger ambitions, imagining a future where its tech is used in commerce, architecture and energy harnessing -- but it needs you for crowdsourced venture capital. So, are you headed to the bank for a 10 grand loan? If not, $5 gets you "a shout out on the social media venue of your choice," $10 gets you "A STICKER AND A MAGNET" (caps lock theirs) and $100 gets you five minutes on the actual board, if you travel to Silicon Valley.
But if Hendo takes off (sorry) on the market, prices will come down eventually. Hell, by the time hoverboards are as common as smartphones, $10,000 might get you a time-traveling DeLorean.
