By some estimates, Santa has to travel 3,000 times faster than the speed of sound to deliver billions of gifts in one night. So it’s not surprising that even he needs to log some time in a sleigh simulator. More »
It’s almost Christmas, so Melbourne’s Deakin University invited Santa in for some last-minute flight training on their Universal Motion Simulator (UMS). If this video doesn’t make you smile a tiny bit, then you might just be a Grinch. More »
“Welcome aboard, Captain,” my co-pilot Julian said to me this morning as I stepped into the cockpit of a Boeing 737-800, the world’s most popular commercial aircraft. Despite a complete lack of training and experience, I strapped myself in, adjusted my harness and confidently got ready to take control. At least I knew I couldn’t crash… More »
Four years in the making, the Acadalus tripod head uses motors and an inclinometer to relieve you of fiddling and make sure your shots are absolutely, positively straight. Of course, that perspectival perfection comes at a price: $US5000. More »
Much like the multi-million dollar jet systems that inspired it, the Saitek Pro Flight X65F joystick/throttle system for PCs doesn’t move at all. That’s right, not an inch, and yet the controls were compared to mind control. [ars technica] More »
This is the HD World, an amazing ultra-high definition military F-16 simulator that runs on 120 Intel Dual Core PCs with $US400 graphic cards inside a special industrial casing. Looking at the video, I want one in my living room. More »
Elliott-wannabe Mike Pegg has wired his mountain bike to Google Earth’s flight simulator mode to travel all around the world while he exercises. He used a Sun Microsystem SunSPOT, a Java-programmable wireless sensor equipped with an accelerometer and a bank of pins to connect it to the other controls. The system is simple, and it works perfectly, as you can see in the video.
