#thatnerdgadget

World's First Functional Hoverbike is Taking Pre-Orders

by: IAmErikman

Two years ago, a company by the name of Aerofex fulfilled the dream of every man and woman’s inner child by announcing the Aero-X, the world’s first consumer-centric hoverbike! Unbound by the laws of copyediting, the previous statement would contain at least twenty exclamation marks, because there’s no other way of conveying the massive excitement for such a device installs using mere words on a page. Aero-X is half quadcopter, half motorcycle, and all innovation.  filing nine patents en route toward achieving a motorized experience unlike any helicopter or airplane. And now, Aerofex has just unveiled plans to start selling the first commercial model in 2017 for $85,000. Aero-X drives like a motorcycle with the elevation of a hovercraft, accelerating to speeds of up to 72 kilometers per hours at 3.7 meters off the ground. The vehicle can carry two passengers on any open terrain for one hour and fifteen minutes on a full tank of gas. Overcoming the stability and control issues inherent in past hoverbikes was a direct result of engineering craftiness, drawing from the expertise of Aerofax founder and aerospace engineer Mark DeRoche.

"We’ve done a lot of work to learn how to remove the coupling effect," De Roche explains. "That’s the key for someone who only has motorcycle experience to be able to get on it and feel comfortable right away."  

Steam Machine Prototype Specs Unveiled

Written by IamErikMan

Valve will ship out 300, small yet powerful, prototype Steam Machines to beta users. Although there hasn't been any announcement of prices yet, one thing we do know are the specs to these machines. There will be three machine types; low-end, mid-range and high-end and the prototype is built entirely from "off-the-shelf PC parts," and is "fully upgradeable." We hope to hear the final specs in the near future but for now here is what we are looking at:

GPU: some units with NVidia Titan, GTX780, GTX760, or GTX660 CPU: some boxes with Intel : i7-4770, some i5-4570, and some i3 RAM: 16GB DDR3-1600 (CPU), 3GB DDR5 (GPU) Storage: 1TB/8GB Hybrid SSHD Power Supply: Internal 450w 80Plus Gold Dimensions: approx. 12 x 12.4 x 2.9 in high