Some people want to live Star Wars way more than the rest of us. To that end, we’ve found a bunch of projects simulating the speeder bike chase from Return of the Jedi that combine ingenuity, craftsmanship, and wit to render Star Wars into real life. Take it from us, it’s a fun way to kill time while waiting for The Last Jedi to open in December.
First up, YouTube vloggers Jesse Wellens and Carmella Rose (also known as PrankvsPrank) took Halloween to a new level this year by dressing up as Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, zipping through the streets of Manhattan on customized speeder bikes. Of course, a Star Wars chase always needs a stormtrooper to follow along (they’re the worst shots anyway), and YouTuber Casey Neistat played the role of an Endor-bound Scout Trooper marvelously, capturing the whole thing in a wildly viral video. This speeder bike doesn’t actually fly, tragically, but it does a great job of simulating the effect thanks to some well-placed mirrors. Wellens and Rose got some help from their pals at Lithium Cycles, who helped customize a pair of cool high-performance, long-range electric motorbikes branded as Super 73. You can check out how they customized the bikes and costumes in this behind-the-scenes video.
Wellens, Rose, and Neistat aren’t the only ones racing along on speeder bikes. YouTuber devinsupertramp devised this clever fan film that uses hydropowered jet bikes manufactured by Jetovator to recreate the classic chase over water. With Devin as Han Solo, a mustachioed Chewbacca, and even a few Ewoks, the fan film is a delightful recreation of one of cinema’s most iconic scenes.
Finally, The Drive discovered another classy speeder bike at the Iola Car Show in central Wisconsin. This amazing replica was built by Vintage Works in Green Bay, WI to show off their impressive, most impressive fabrication skills. It’s built around a 2016 Zero electric motorcycle that’s typically silent, but here, it has been augmented with a 400-watt four-speaker sound system to blast movie-authentic speeder bike sounds. Yes, even the blasters.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.