my name is ashlee vance. m an author and journalist, and i'm on a quest to find the most innovative tech creations. and meet the beautiful freaks behind them. >> "hello world." ashlee: oh. hello. ♪ ashlee: this is auckland, the home to 1.5 million of new zealand's 4.5 million people. people living outside auckland tend to knock it as congested and hectic. meanwhile, people living in auckland celebrate the way of life it offers. >> here's that gelato place everyone wants to go to. ashlee: the city has a bustling food scene, a gorgeous harbor surrounded by fertile volcanic land, and those black sand beaches you saw earlier -- they are just a half-hour drive from downtown. this next part is going to sound cheesy, but honest to god, it is true. auckland is full of cheery, optimistic people. you feel good when you are here, like you can do stuff, big stuff, crazy stuff. like, say, replicating human consciousness on the inside of a computer. ♪ >> it is our primary means of communication. but it has been untapped in

i talked to ashlee vance and got the story. hlee: the company says they are going to carve out a 40-passenger jet that would fly faster than the concorde, and they think there are about 500 routes, most of them over oceans, that this would apply to. they want to charge less than the concorde, and the analysts i spoke to, if they can build this plane, they think it has a chance. these guys are trying to take advantage of all the computer stimulation technology, materials, improvements like carbon fiber instead of aluminum. by moving fast and cheap, they think they can bring it to market. david: you checked out the prototype so much as they exist now in a hangar that used to belong to john denver. what does the prototype look like? ashlee: you cannot see the actual plane yet. the models they have mocked up are a bit smaller then the concorde. otherwise it looks like the concorde. in this hangar, they have cockpits made out of plywood and cardboard that you can sit in. it feels like a business jet. every seat would be an aisle and

ashlee vance. thank you so much, ashlee, for sharing this sneak peek with us. watch the full episode or friday oncom bloomberg television, 9:30 p.m. eastern. the world's first accelerator for aerospace innovators. we speak to the cofounder about where he is spotting the best talent and what he thinks could be the next breakout space startup. ♪ the pentagon's top combat tester has singled out cyber security weaknesses in the lockheed martin f-35 as one of many unresolved deficiencies in the costliest u.s. weapons program ever. the report also describes the risks of building these new fighter jets. the f-35 is presented because the defense department nearly 300 billion dollars. the air force is buying the biggest share of them. it has insisted that these deficiencies be fixed before it declares them operational. in recent years, we have seen the first real commercial space startups develop. what do they have in common? billionaire founders. apparently, it's really hard to start an aerospace company without a lot of capital. starburst accelerator is trying to help

i talked to ashlee vance and got the story. ompany says they are going to carve out a 40-passenger jet that would fly faster than the concorde, and they think there are about 500 routes, most of them over oceans, that this would apply to. they want to charge less and the than the concorde, and the analysts i spoke to, if they can build this plane, they think it has a chance. these guys are trying to take advantage of all the computer stimulation technology, materials, improvements like carbon fiber instead of aluminum. by moving fast and cheap, they think they can bring it to market. david: you checked out the prototype so much as they exist now in a hangar that used to belong to john denver. what does the prototype look like? ashlee: you cannot see the actual plane yet. the models they have mocked up are a bit smaller then the concorde. otherwise it looks like the concorde. in this hangar, they have cockpits made out of plywood and cardboard that you can sit in. it feels like a business jet. every seat would be an aisle and a w

i talked to ashlee vance and got the story. ays they are going to carve out a 40-passenger jet that would fly faster than the concorde, and they think there are about 500 routes, most of them over oceans, that this would apply to. they want to charge less than the concorde, and the analysts i spoke to, if they can build this plane, they think it has a chance. these guys are trying to take advantage of all the computer stimulation technology, materials, improvements like carbon fiber instead of aluminum. by moving fast and cheap, they think they can bring it to market. david: you checked out the prototype so much as they exist now in a hangar that used to belong to john denver. out there in colorado. what does the prototype look like? ashlee: you cannot see the actual plane yet. the models they have mocked up are a bit smaller then the concorde. otherwise it looks like the concorde. in this hangar, they have cockpits made out of plywood and cardboard that you can sit in. it feels like a business jet. every seat would be an aisle

i talked to ashlee vance and got the story. takeys are trying advantage of all the computer stimulation technology, materials, improvements like carbon fiber instead of aluminum . by moving fast and cheap, they think they can bring it to market. david: you check out the prototype, in a hangar that used to belong to john denver. what does the prototype look like? ashlee: you cannot see the actual plane yet. the models they have mocked up are a bit smaller then the concorde. otherwise it looks like the concorde. they have cockpits made out of plywood and can' cardboard. every seat would be an aisle and a window. it is two rows of single seats going all the way through. their hope is to build a third scale plane by the end of next year, and that is when we would see how it flies and if it meets up with the simulations that they run. david: how much of this hinges on materials? this would be a plane built out of different stuff and the concorde was? ashlee: it is a big deal. it is the only way you get the price down. they are seein