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Star Wars Landspeeders Are Here
smitty777 writes "All you Jedis can stop building fake landspeeders in your driveway now — the real deal is finally here. Wired is reporting on an Israeli company that has been testing one for use as an ambulance called the AirMule. Watch out, Womp Rats."
That video totally looks like the a scene from a low budget version of Rise of the Machines.
Now I've had that thought, I want to see that movie.
This is lame, it looks and functions nothing like a land speeder and I'm struggling to figure out why not just use a helicopter?
I can see why these aren't in demand any more. I'd also prefer the XP-38 to this noisy thing. And where are your droids supposed to sit?
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
Landspeeders are unarmed and womprats are just over 2 meters across. It's like hitting a deer.
You want to menace womprats, you need a T-16 Skyhopper...
I bet it's just a hovercraft. I remember DIY personal hovercraft with 2-stroke engines.
Are we getting ddos attacked? Should we change our passwords and disassociate emails from accounts? Can we expect a dump of Slashdot accounts on pastebin soon? I'm scared guys.
is not apt.
Aditionally to being the coolest ambulance on earth, with that kind of noise you don't even need a siren !
ducted fan
Just proves nerds are not above inflating the facts
boo for making it past Slashdot "editorial" "filter".
For every benefit you receive a tax is levied. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
The plural of 'Jedi' is 'Jedi'.
I was thinking the same thing. All those photos need are those 3 Chinese officials there admiring it.
Wow, it's amazing how an article title of "Video: Israeli Landspeeder (Sorta) Takes Flight" becomes "Star Wars Landspeeders Are Here" when the thing look and functions nothing like a Star Wars Landspeeder. Nor would you be shooting womprats in one you fucking poseur since it has no weapons.
boo for making it past Slashdot "editorial" "filter".
Yep, just try and draw a line from the tip of the nose shadow thru the tip of the nose, and the tip of the tail shadow through the tip of the tail -- They don't intersect at the sun... that last pic: they go off at very bad angles like: /------/ or even |------\ or /------|
\------/ instead of \------\ or
You may get \------/ on overcast days with lots of ambient light, but not those hard shadows -- Clearly a fake.
Could you be more specific? What visual anomalies do you see in the photos, exactly, that identify them as faked?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
I think everyone is getting tired of these 'flying car' stories, be they on /., Wired, PopSci or wherever.
...and while we're at it, a 'Jetpack' should be good for at least several hour's flight. A 30-second hop is not a 'jet pack.' For greater clarity, see:
Just so the editors understand what we're talking about here:
A Flying Car uses some kind of anti-gravity device. It can float. Don't show me a hovercraft, helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft. For greater clarity, see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qcMjG1KL2Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMQwT9z0Jyc
boo for making it past Slashdot "editorial" "filter".
From the comments on the article with the pictures...
I've had a couple of people say they thought the speeder was photo shopped. It's most likely because of the fact that I use a fill-flash when taking the pics. If you'd like to see more without the flash, and a video of it driving, please check out my web gallery: http://www.reallandspeeder.com
There is also a video of the engine light/ sound effects in the dark too.
Daniel
Unlike an airplane that can glide and a helicopter that can auto-rotate when the engine dies on these things so does everyone on board.
Is buying a Harley Davidson as your first motorcycle since you were 16 at age 49 a midlife crisis issue?
it looks like one of the armed combine aircraft from HL 2
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
1950 called and it wants it's "amazing flying car of the future" back.
Seriously, just like jetpacks with more than a few minutes endurace, hovercars with any real range and performance just aren't in the cards. It's all about the physics, and the physics say that the materials, powerplants, and fuels needed are all unobtanium.
Yet somehow, people insist on disbelieving the equations and keep trying anyhow.
Can I leave this lousy moisture vaporator farm to join the rebellion? More seriously, I'd be way more impressed if they built a Star Destroyer.
Where does the signature go?
Can it complete the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs?
(And to the trivia nazis, yes I know that was Han Solo's claim about the Millennium Falcon.)
If you've never been modded as "flamebait" or "troll," you've never tried to argue a minority viewpoint here!
What an excesively noisy piece of junk!
Haven't you seen the Martin jetpack?
Admittedly, it's more like a helicopter that you stand in, but you get a half hour of flight time. Probably long enough to get to work!
Looks more like the Hunter-Killers from Terminator than it does a land speeder.
You never expect irony, do you?
Want to be a professional wrestler? Visit www.iyfwrestling.com
@iyfwrestling
Just the obligatory link to the Moller Skycar... http://www.moller.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49&Itemid=57
"The mind works quicker than you think!"
What's that? Watch out? It's still no T-16.
If flying cars were invented first, the improvement would be called the automobile. It would have four wheels that touch the ground. No more flying cars would be falling from the sky. Countless lives would be saved. It would save you thousands of dollars in fuel costs because it doesn't need to hover.
The future is now. Enjoy it.
Get it on mainstream media outlet cameras and I *might* believe it.
Fill-flash does not cause the shadow under the craft to be "harder" than a shadow coming from the roof top. It's the same SUN! If I took the time to photoshop the pics, I wouldn't then say. "Yea. You got me. They are fake." Maybe he is just hiding the wheels or something, but it just don't look right.
It's clever to say "These are not the droids you're looking for." but without the Jedi powers behind the statement my Stormtrooper squad is going to detain you and turn you in for a promotion or duty transfer to some tropical system staffed with female Twi'leks.
For every benefit you receive a tax is levied. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
This looks shopped. I can tell from some of the pixels and from seeing quite a few shops in my time.
That's no landspeeder!
"In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
The droids don't have to rid. They should either be able to run after you or fly using tiny rockets in their 'feet'.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Looks more like a poor attempt at a slashvertisement.
Why is it that Israel is kicking our ass with so many Army (Read As: Ground forces) technology?
I mean, back when we went into Afghanistan and then Iraq the Israelis had a armored vehicle that could shoot rocket propelled grenades and inbound projectiles and we didn't. Oh wait, Raytheon paid off the government to sacrifice our soldiers for their vehicle that still has YET to be produced.
Before that the Israelis were working on a mobile laser weapon that can shoot artillery shells out of the sky.
They created that modification to guns that allows the military to shoot around corners without risking sticking your head our there.
Now this and whatever else we don't know about.
The Chinese are creating their own stealth technology.
I'm not a "Pro-Military" guy but I would like to see a LOT more money put into research and development as well as spying. To a certain extent the 40's & 50's had it right. Spy and steal technology so you know what they are doing. Protect your companies at home and spend money on your R&D.
Now, since Corporations have global and international ties, they could give two shits who has the tech as long as they make their money.
And since Corporations buy our government, specifically the Republicans but some Democrats too, there isn't much effort in restricting those practices.
I ranted too much here, my apologies.
The only thing that you can afford is the Adidas Vehicle Collection | X-Wing Edition.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
A loud penis is just another dickhead full of hot air, also belonging to the specimen of politician.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
The flying car gets approved -- http://online.wsj.com/video/news-hub-flying-car-cleared-for-takeoff/5E00D599-345F-4E25-95EE-7915F9D2FE7F.html .
Get it on mainstream media outlet cameras and I *might* believe it.
Here is another video showing it at a car fair(skip to 1:30) with other custom cars.
Fill-flash does not cause the shadow under the craft to be "harder" than a shadow coming from the roof top. It's the same SUN! If I took the time to photoshop the pics, I wouldn't then say. "Yea. You got me. They are fake." Maybe he is just hiding the wheels or something, but it just don't look right.
The hardness of a shadow is highly dependent on the distance from the shadow casting object and the ground. Something a foot from the ground will have a harder and darker shadow than something ten feet from the ground, since the edge dispersion and ambient light will both be greater.
His website has pictures of him building it, including the chassis with wheels that are clearly inset enough that they wouldn't be visible in the final vehicle. What is so unbelievable about this to you? It is an electric three wheeler with nicely crafted body, not exactly an impossible feat.
Eyes are a ridiculously easy thing to fool... the apparent shadow inconsistency could easily be explained as an optical illusion caused by inadvertent forced perspective due to the angle of the camera. The same shot could have been retaken 4 or 5 more times from other angles to remove that uncertainty. That this was not done strongly suggests the distinct possibility exists that they were shopped, but it is not irrefutable proof.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Wouldn't the lines in a proper picture be parallel? The sun casts shadows indistinguishable from parallel for any earth-bound distance.
"What a piece of junk!"
This reminds me of the Avrocar made by A.V. Roe. "They" had great dreams for it but it never flew off its ground effect. If it tried to go too high or too fast, it had horrible stability problems.
These days you might deal with the stability issue with a computer. That would result in a machine that would crash the millisecond its computer failed though. I will believe this new machine when they demonstrate it flying higher and faster.
http://www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/mufonontario/avro/avrocar.html
Riiight. Have you ever taken a photo with a wide angle lens when the sun is behind you? Go outside and try it. You'll discover that reality is in fact photoshopped.
This is a decent piece of engineering that got butchered by spencer's editorial.
As one commenter in the original blog mentioned:
Well's spencer's knowledge on the subject is: Aeronautics is an engineering degree and I have a liberals arts degree in English so I can can blog about anything.
Even more surprising is that not a single slashdotter bothered to check what's really shown, instead relying on BS from Wired
http://www.urbanaero.com/Frame-whatsnew.htm/
This is an unmanned rapid combat zone casualty extraction vehicle - way cheaper than a helicopter (and thumbs down to all the commentators who couldn't count to 10 without a helping hand) and capable of reaching areas a helicopter would only dream of approaching.
But hey, don't let the facts confuse you - on with the "it's just junk" comments from these who couldn't figure out which way the pilot wasn't seating...
Ah yes that is the same sound I recall when Luke rode across Tatooine, a extremely loud helicopter sound!
...can't wait 'till it sucks your hair in. (the upper jet nozzle...)
It's the young hooligans in T-16s that worry me.
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
won't leave tracks now when they murder their neighbours.
Don't get me wrong. I think this is cool. This is a well made prop. I just have issues with the images being photoshopped. The website in the op shows photos of the prop in front of a matte painting with studio lighting. The video is edited in a manner that does not give the viewer a great look at the undercarriage. Movie magic, not at it's finest, but present.
Forgive me if I remain skeptical of /. headline and of the pictures being untouched.
For every benefit you receive a tax is levied. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
The shadows aren't parallel.
Of course, with a wide-angle lens, I wouldn't expect them to be. I'd recommend everybody look at the WHOLE video before claiming it's "fake" based off of one little detail. Of course, what do I expect from /.?
So, it's not a Landspeeder, it's a vertol, a ducted fan helecopter alternative.
I think: The sun is behind the camera, and the apparent angles you see are caused by the shadow being forward (from the camera perspective) of the object. In the parts with vertical edges (the thruster) the shadows look aligned, but in the parts with curved edges underneath (front and back), the resultant offset produces an optical illusion.
Take another look.
You're only jealous cos the little penguins are talking to me.
So he put a funny looking chassis on a car, basically. Why do we care? Is Slashdot gonna cover every boring cosplay forum post as well now?