If it’s not robotic, it’s virtual – This is the CJ Wilson Cayman Cup

And now for something completely different. CJ Wilson Racing is an actual, real-life racing team in the States, who have recently switching to fielding two Porsche Cayman GT4s. And now they’ve also gone and launched the CJ Wilson Racing Cayman Cup, which uses a to-spec replica of their GT4 twins for players to race with. In Forza 6. Before you scoff, the guys at CJ Wilson Racing have crafted everything from the engine spec to the livery and they’ve got it performing right up there with the actual vehicle thanks to one of their drivers, Danny Burkett, who said that “we got the car to be only eight tenths off our fastest lap from the race at Sebring.” The virtual event kicks off on 27 April this year, at a virtual Daytona. Hit up the link below to see if your fastest times will even let you qualify.

Source: Online Racing Association

Helping quadriplegic former racer Sam Schmidt race again with Project SAM

Sticking with the racing theme, this is a positive story. Even if it doesn’t look like it to start. Sam Schmidt was an IndyCar racer who was injured in the 1990s in a testing accident, an event which left him a quadriplegic. He switched from driving cars to owning them, as part of Schmidt Peterson Motorsport, but an extensive project – Project SAM (Semi-Autonomous Motorcar) – has given him the ability to drive again. The vehicles is a 2014 Corvette Stingray and the introduction of extra motors and wiring gave anyone with the right control methods the ability to drive the car. The point, of course, was to allow the vehicle to be safely driven by Schmidt. Acceleration and braking is controlled by a blowpipe, similar to the way that a quadriplegic’s wheelchair functions but at much greater speeds, while cornering is handled by infra-red cameras attached to a hat. The car turns based on the user’s head angle. There’s still some work to go but what they’ve done so far…? Impressive.

Source: Ars Technica

Drones as art: This is Balance

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Surely this is a little existential for a Monday? Yeah, it is and we don’t care who knows is. Balance is a short, very artistic video filmed using drones. It asks questions about work and life outside of work, life and death and why we do what we do every day. And it does this silently, using just sky-shot footage filmed from a helicopter and a drone, as well as a RED CF Weapon with either a Leica or a Canon lens. Tim Sessler’s creation of movement and sound speaks more to the people who actually watch it, so catch the video above or at the link below.

Source: Tim Sessler

Keeping your password in your head just took on a whole new meaning

We’ve all been there. You assign a new password to a service or website and then… forget it immediately. What if there was a way to use a password that you won’t forget and can’t be replicated, across your online life? SkullConduct is hoping to be that way, as it hopes to use the sound that your skull makes to unlock… things. Sound is played through a user’s skull using a bone-conduction mic and speaker. The resulting unique frequency generates your password. Cool idea, especially since it integrates with AR headsets like Google Glass (and Hololens, maybe?), but there’s some work to do yet. It’s only accurate about 97% of the time and if a user gains weight, their skull frequency could change… Yeah… Still, if you were going to add an extra layer of security, SkullConduct would be an awesome addition.