HUVr: Hoverboards Like 'Back to the Future' Coming by Christmas? (VIDEO)
Hoverboard Hoax Rockets Through the Internet at 88 MPH
HUVr's hoverboards have taken the Internet and social media by storm as many are finding out more about the seemingly unbelievable technology that allows people to float through the air. In their latest video, HUVr showed celebrities like Tony Hawk, Schoolboy Q, Moby and even Terrell Owens enjoying their first time on a hoverboard.
HUVr hoverboards, though, are definitely a hoax. Though the company HUVr Tech promised that they have "solved an important part of one of science's mysteries: the key to antigravity," the impossible physics and some marketing tactics point to the futuristic rides being faked.
The HUVr video has homages to "Back to the Future: Part II" in which Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) travel to 2015, where hoverboards are readily available. The HUVr video features Lloyd, Billy Zane— he played a thug in a film— singer Bethany Consantino, techno artist Moby and various others trying out the hoverboard.
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Even though the video excited many— HUVr Tech promised that they would be ready to ship by Christmas of this year— a few flaws were exposed by fastidious internet researchers at various media outlets. The hoax was most likely created by comedy website Funny or Die, though they haven't confirmed that yet.
First, several computer graphics experts pointed out that it would be easy to fake a stunt like the hoverboard by mounting wires just out of the frame and editing them out of the video afterwards. Indeed, at one point during the video Tony Hawk's harness is nearly visible.
Another point is that the four-month-old HUVr Tech website says there may be "inaccuracies" concerning the video and actual product— this is most likely a way to cover the hoax should a disgruntled potential customer decide to take legal action, according to The AV Club. The Asian "engineer" in the video has also been exposed as actor Nelson Chang.
Also, stylist and costume designer for Funny or Die listed the "commercial" on her resume in November of 2013, according to Gizmodo. It's since been removed.
