Flying Skateboard

First and foremost, AlcaSpace is a privately held aerospace firm and one of the first 26 competing in the 2004 Ansari X Prize Series. However, this mornin', the firm published a tape showing the "ArcaBoard", a fan-operated rectangular that can raise a man almost one feet from the floor.

ArcaBoard gets its output - 430 lbs of push or 272 hp, the firm says - from 36 electrical ventilators. It also says that it is incorporated in a self-balancing technology so that it can travel frictionless. ArcaSpace chief executive officer Dumitru Popescu can be seen in the videotape, but it doesn't look like he has much influence over where it leads.

It actually reminds quite a bit of the Hendo Hoverboard video - sure, it floats, but you can't really control it enough to ever use it to get anywhere. Not afraid of its ambition for the ArcaBoard featured on the site of the corporation site. "The ArcaBoard is a revolution in transport for the first moment since the bike, car or plane," it says.

" Another blindfolded serious feature of the companion videotape is the film material of the plank in actions and graphic art showing how it was constructed against the background of echoy pianos. Popescu is joined by the company's PR executive and COO to report on the company's breakthrough performance. ArcaSpace's hovering boards seem to have little use beyond just merchandising, similar to the case with Arx Pax and Lexus.

Too serious to be taken seriously, the $19,900 rate label is so high that you have to ask yourself why they even tried to name it. For all intents and purposes, Popescu acknowledges this at the end of the film. "However, the development of this truly groundbreaking piece of equipment demonstrates that Arca is not only able to develop stunning technology, but also to shape the tomorrow.

" On a very low scale, what ArcaSpace has done here is pretty good. It has found a way to create something that can be called a legitimate overboard, and unlike Lexus or Arx Pax, it does not need a rail or specific finish. However, although this is the third working release we've seen this year, it looks like the immediate near term of the overboard is still earthed.