I'm no futurist but I think I've spotted the future of beverage-dispensing devices. Marin County Fair vendor Phil's Lemonade is selling lemonade-filled (philled?) jetpacks for $19.99 a pop. Phil'er up!
Previously: Deep-fried filet mignon, spaghetti donuts, and "unicorn-specific" foods debut at the San Diego County Fair
photo by Rusty Blazenhoff Read the rest
In this Smithsonian overview, makers and operators point out that they are technically rocket belts, not jet packs. Lots of great vintage footage, including a clunky pre-GoPro helmet cam. Read the rest
On Saturday, Franky Zapata took his prototype Flyboard Air hoverboard for a rather impressive flight, three miles on the French coast. It's based on Zapata's previous water-powered hoverboard.
When the first short flight video went up last month, The Verge interviewed Zapata:
So there’s three parts to this, right? The board, a fuel tank, and a remote?
Franky Zapata: Yes, the thing I have on my back is like a Camelbak but it’s full of kerosene. Jet A1 (fuel). The thing I have on my back is like a Camelbak but it’s full of kerosene....
We've been working on it for four years. We tried to figure it out that by using the original Flyboard and just pushing air inside the hose. After that, we took two years to create the great turboreactors, and to create the algorithms to stabilize the Flyboard....
For decades, engineer Nelson Tyler has kept the jetpack dream alive, most recently with the company Jetpack Aviation. Above, video of the company's CEO David Mayman flying the latest model, the JB-9 JetPack, over Manhattan.
