As someone who built stuff like this as a kid (Well, not quite like this, obviously got a more compact form factor and it isn’t anywhere near as loud as my leaf blower-driven hoverplank was), I’m not sure how they resolve the problem that hoverboards of this sort are completely unsteerable.
The fact that the guy in the video does absolutely no steering leads me to believe they haven’t solved the control problem… Which is a serious problem for hoverboard concepts!
Paging Marty McFly, paging Marty McFly…
Monopole magnets 
And levitating a house seems like a really bad idea to me without amazingly robust control and stability.
What’s a Hendo?
Yeah, at first I was thinking that creating a differential in the amount of repulsion between the front and back magnets would allow you to create forward or backward motion, but thinking about it more I’m pretty sure it would just cause the board to tip and wouldn’t affect its speed or direction at all. Maybe there’s some way to make use of Lenz’s law?
Yeah, good luck with that. It sounds like they’re trying to get people to think that eventually they’ll be able to ride it around their neighborhood. Maybe they could get it to work with steel, but beyond that… nothing for the electromagnet to push on!
I’m a little confused by the pricing. $300 gets you the White Box Developer Kit, and $900 gets you the same White Box “but with an app for propulsion and control.”
The app costs $600?
Ah yes. Monopole magnets, with zero-point energy as the power source. Got it: simple!
We’ve all been fools to not think of it before!
If you look at the Kickstarter, the White Boxes are controllable – two axes of motion plus spin.
Not sure how they do it, though.
Talk about in-app purchases!
“Ok, here’s your hoverboard. Now, all you need to purchase to make it usable is this 15-ton steel plated halfpipe.”
Cluck, eat and lay eggs? Why do you ask?
If that’s the case, that’s kind of amazing, given the status of patent laws in the US. I’m specifically thinking about ability for huge corporations to patent things that have already existed and been in use for decades…
Where are you getting that from? As near as I could tell, they had to actually demo it for a patent examiner to take it seriously, but as far as I can tell the USPTO has published the application but not yet formally granted or denied the patent.
Oh great. Well, at least the Cubs will win the World Series next year, even if we do have to start dressing like this:
How many jigawatts?
Eddy currents. Look it up!
Here is my quick test and explanation of the basic technology involved.
Do you think the Hendo has moving parts? Or can the equivalent spinning action be gained by cycling through an array of electromagnets or something?
Also, what do you mean that your array “concentrates the magnetic field to one side?”
