Periscope partners with DJI for live drone broadcasting
While some people consider drones to be a public nuisance, the truth is the safety and responsibility falls on the owner. In other words, if an owner is responsible and obeys the law, everything should be fine. Ultimately, these flying cameras have a lot of useful applications and should not be demonized.
Lending to the mainstreaming and public acceptance of drones, the Twitter-owned Periscope today announces that it is partnering with famed drone manufacturer, DJI, for live broadcasting. This is a planned future feature. Sorry, Android users, it looks to be iPhone-only.
GoPro to launch Karma drone in Q4 2016
While GoPro has not revealed much information about its upcoming drone, called Karma, the company did say that we can expect to see it in stores this year. Question is, when?
If we are to go by its latest earnings report, GoPro is not in its best possible financial shape. For the first quarter of this year it just posted $183.53 million in revenue, down by 49.5 percent year-over-year, but also $107.45 million in net income losses, down by $741.5 percent year-over-year. This affects Karma's release date, but it should still make its public debut by the end of 2016, GoPro says.
Our $27,500 drone. Do you have one, too?
This is the kind of thing you find on the bedroom floor of a 14 year-old boy. It’s a gift from last Christmas, still sitting in its box, not yet flown for a reason that often comes down to some variation of "but the batteries need to be charged". I’d forgotten about it totally, which means the little drone missed the FAA’s January 20th registration deadline. Technically, I could be subject to a fine of up to $27,500. If the unregistered drone is used to commit a crime the fine could rise to $250,000 plus three years in prison.
Do you have an unregistered drone sitting in a closet somewhere?
Amazon bookstores: It’s the drones, stupid
Remember the motto of the Clinton Presidential campaign back in 1992: "It’s the economy, stupid!" That election was about the economy and Clinton won as a result. Well Amazon.com this week let slip its plan to open 300-400 bookstores in U.S. cities, sending Wall Street analysts into a tizzy because bookstores look to them like a lousy business even for the world’s biggest bookseller. But this isn’t about selling books. This Amazon plan -- if it happens at all -- is about creating bases from which to fly delivery drones.
Delivery drones are to me a stupid idea except in certain rare circumstances like flying prescriptions to people living on remote islands. But Amazon is acting like it actually means it. And if it does mean it, then it’ll need a place from which to fly those drones.
Okay, Google, give us Drone Street View
There is no shortage of online blabbers making predictions about the future or bloggers pining pageviews with rumors about the next thing (usually from Apple). I rarely join the chorus of new year prognosticators—and won't now. Instead I make a wishful what-if aimed squarely at Google. Watching the blizzard blast the Washington, D.C. metro area, once my home and for most of my adult life, I got to thinking: Wouldn't a live feed, something like Google Drone Street View, be fantastic way to experience the storm?
Why shouldn't this be the next wave in drone deployments? If not from Google, then from newscasters? The low-flyers could go where snow would stop motorized vehicles; and, connected in real-time to Google Maps, provide contextual viewing experience. You can be there, too, even if living one-thousand kilometers distant. Newscasters could use drones to give a more immersive watching experience.
IEEE: 2016 will be the year of the drone, but there's bad news for MP3 players, digital cameras, and wearables
43 percent of UK consumers expect drones to be the most influential technology in 2016, according to IEEE’s annual survey, with smart phones (38 percent) and 3D printing (31 percent) close behind.
The online survey, conducted in November 2015, questioned over two thousand adults to find out what technology they expected to see more/less of. While the list of devices predicted to fall from favor included obvious tech like digital music players, standalone digital cameras (both 15 percent), and ebook readers (9 percent), some 8 percent of respondents declared wearables had had their day.
Intel's RealSense camera used in first 'intelligent consumer drone'
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich has revealed his company’s entry into the burgeoning drone market during a keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Yuneec's Typhoon H drone utilizes Intel’s RealSense camera and infrared lasers to instinctively avoid collisions, making it the world’s first "intelligent consumer drone" according to Krzanich.
Karma is the name of GoPro's upcoming drone
While GoPro appears to be focused solely on action cameras, the company wants to expand its horizons by entering the drone market. At this year's Code Conference, CEO Nick Woodman announced that a quadcopter is in the works. It is expected to be released in the first half of 2016.
GoPro has not revealed much else about the upcoming drone, only suggesting that it will be priced to appeal to consumers -- but, considering how expensive some of GoPro's action cameras are, that does not mean much. Now we also know what it will be called -- Karma.
Spoiler alert! Google reveals the trending gift searches for Cyber Monday
Black Friday is out of the way (not that it is really restricted to just one day this year) and now it's time for Cyber Monday. Traditionally -- if the word can be applied to such a recent phenomenon -- this is the day when you can snap up a techy bargain in time for Christmas, and Google has shed some light on what people are searching for this year.
The search data is like peering into the future. The searches of today, are the gifts of next month. If you want to get an idea of what your nearest and dearest might be popping under the tree for you this year, the top trend gift searches could give you some pointers. Warning: there may be gift spoilers ahead.
Amazon unveils new hybrid drone prototype for 30-minute Prime Air deliveries
When you make an impulse purchase -- or you're just an impatient type -- time is of the essence. Next day delivery is far too slow, and same-day delivery has gradually spread to certain places. Some cities have the option of delivery within the hour, but Amazon is working on cutting this down to as little as 30 minutes with Prime Air.
As you would probably expect, these super-speedy deliveries will be facilitated by drones, and Amazon has unveiled a new prototype drone that blends elements of a helicopter with those of an airplane. Unlike other drones we’ve seen the Prime Air model is quite large, and is capable of carrying up to 5 pounds.
As drone-related incidents are on the rise, is more regulation needed?
Last week one of the biggest events in the tennis calendar was disrupted as a small drone crashed into the stands at the Louis Armstrong Stadium. The US Open clash between Flavia Pennetta and Monica Niculescu may have only experienced a brief hiatus and no spectators, thankfully, were hurt, but the incident was unfortunately not a one-off.
Just two days after the crash at the Grand Slam match, a drone also crash-landed at the University of Kentucky football stadium prior to the match against Louisiana-Lafayette and it’s not just sporting events that are falling foul of amateur aviation enthusiasts. Emergency services are also struggling, with drones posing a significant hazard to airborne firefighters and medical teams. According to the US Forest Service there have been more than 13 instances of drones interfering with attempts to extinguish wildfires since the start of 2015. Not only do they risk endangering individuals that may be caught up in the blaze, they also pose a serious threat to emergency services staff.
Swiss Post testing drone deliveries
Switzerland’s postal service started testing drone parcel deliveries, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
The testing, done together with Swiss WorldCargo and Matternet, will investigate the technology and determine the cost-effectiveness of such a business idea, although flying postmen are not expected to be widely used for the next five years.
The world's smallest drone can be had for just $35
Drones are a much talked about technological development, but they have yet to really take off with members of the public.
There is a whole host of factors holding them back, regulations being chief among them, but it seems size certainly isn’t going to be an issue. Particularly when drones are being made that can easily fit into the palm of your hand.
OnePlus unveils $20 DR-1 miniature drone
OnePlus, best known for its One "flagship killer", is now looking to gain the attention of drone enthusiasts, as today it unveiled a highly-affordable remote-controlled quadcopter touted to be the smallest in the world. And, no, it's not an April Fools prank, unlike what other companies have been trying to pull in the last 24 hours.
Called DR-1, OnePlus's first miniature drone has a wingspan of only 70 mm, and four blades with a diameter of 30 mm. Given the specs, it's only going to serve as a fun little toy, and not something that you can attach a GoPro to.
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