The Power Egg is unlike any drone you’ve ever flown before
Normally, when you think “quadcopter”, you think of the standard block-shaped mass of propellers, struts and landing gear. But nothing says they have to look that way. In fact, one drone company from China is taking a radically different approach with a UAV that looks like something from the labs of Capsule Corp.
The Power Egg is the latest autonomous flyer from Beijing-based Power Vision and marks the company’s first foray into consumer UAVs. The Egg weighs 4.6 pounds and is roughly the size of a rugby ball. Its body is comprised of high density plastic. Despite its namesake, this device appears surprisingly sturdy.
Both its landing gear and propeller struts retract back into the housing for easy transportation but flick out for flight. Well, technically the landing gear automatically extends — you’ll have to manually lock the propeller struts in place. The bottom tip of the Egg pops off to reveal a 4K UHD camera mounted on a stabilized 360 degree gimbal. Conversely, the top tip houses the drone’s 6,400 mAh battery.
The Power Egg is capable of flying both indoors and out. When outside, the UAV’s onboard GPS keeps track of where it is relative to the operator. When flying inside, the Power Egg switches over to sonar and ground pattern recognition to understand its orientation.
But the Power Egg’s shape isn’t its only unique feature. Users can control the UAV with either a standard two-axis controller or with a Nintendo Wii-like gesture remote. This secondary controller is designed specifically for people who are new to flying and may be hesitant to give it a go. Therefore, PowerVision made it super simple to use. Wave the remote up to have the Power Egg climb or sweep to the left and right to have it pan. Users will have to hold an activation trigger when gesturing, just to ensure they actually mean to move the Egg and aren’t just waving their hands around. And if that’s too much for your tech-phobic relatives to handle, the wand remote also includes an analog thumbstick.
Both remotes offer single-button landing and both rely on your iOS and Android mobile device for processing power. Interestingly, Power Vision offloaded the 2.4GHz antenna that are normally affixed to the back of the remote and made it into a standalone “base station”. That is, your mobile device will still communicate to the Egg through this station, but it won’t be attached to the controller itself. That allows for both remote control options without having to cram unwieldy antennas onto each one. Even with the base station setup, the Power Egg boasts an impressive maximum communications range of 5 km — assuming you can get it that far with the drone’s 23 minute battery life and 13 m/s maximum airspeed.
The Power Egg is also able to think for itself, to a degree, and offers a number of autonomous features. You can command it to travel between pre-selected waypoints while you control the camera, have it circle a specific location — you can even have it perpetually train its camera on the operator in Selfie Mode.
Despite the robust specs, the Power Egg is geared more towards casual users than the “prosumers” who’d otherwise be looking at high-end drones, such as the DJI Phantom 4. Company reps told me at a recent demonstration that, while there will likely be some overlap with some professional services like Real Estate marketing, they expect the Power Egg to be used primarily for snapping pictures and video of yourself and your loved ones. And, while conventional quadcopters are typically stored out of sight when they’re not in use, the Power Egg has been designed to take center stage on your living room coffee table as a piece of functional modern art with an included storage stand.
The Power Egg is currently available on preorder from the PowerVision website. For $1,288 you’ll get the Egg itself, both controllers, the 2.4 GhZ base station, the battery, necessary charging cables and a stylish backpack in which to carry them all. The company expects the first models to ship 8-10 weeks after preorder ends, so you’re looking at Mid-October for deliveries to start.
Woz Laments No Headphone Jack on iPhone 7, Sees USB-C as Future of Audio
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has predicted a consumer backlash if Apple drops the headphone jack in the upcoming iPhone 7 in favor of an all-in-one Lightning connector for audio output, charging, and accessory connectivity.
“If it’s missing the 3.5mm earphone jack, that’s going to tick off a lot of people,” claimed Woz, speaking to The Australian Financial Review.
“I would not use Bluetooth – I don’t like wireless,” he said. “I have cars where you can plug in the music, or go through Bluetooth, and Bluetooth just sounds so flat for the same music.”
With Apple widely expected to drop the headphone jack in next month’s iPhone 7, rumors indicate the company will include Lightning-equipped EarPods in the box, as well as a Lightning-to-jack adapter to allow users like Woz to connect their existing wired earphones to the device.
“Mine have custom ear implants, they fit in so comfortably, I can sleep on them and everything. And they only come out with one kind of jack, so I’ll have to go through the adapter,” he said.
Asked what would have to change for him to consider using wireless in the future, Woz added: “If there’s a Bluetooth 2 that has higher bandwidth and better quality, that sounds like real music, I would use it. But we’ll see.”
Bluetooth 5, announced in June, is expected to be faster, with longer range and a higher transfer rate, but when the standard will be ready for adoption remains unclear.
While the consensus is that Apple will remove the headphone jack in favor of Lightning, Intel continues to position USB-C as the open standard of the future for digital audio. The port continues to see wider adoption in popular Android-based smartphones.
I think USB-C is going to be the future,” said Woz. “One of my favorite Android phones, the Nexus 5X, uses that connector. It gives it a higher level in my own thinking.”
Related Roundup: iPhone 7
Tags: USB-C, Bluetooth, Steve Wozniak
Discuss this article in our forums
What to expect from Sony’s PlayStation New York event: PS4 Neo, PS4 Slim, and more
Sony is getting ready to replace the PS4. Sort of.
No, it isn’t launching the PlayStation 5 already, but it is supposedly going to introduce not one but two upgrades. The first one is called the PS4 Neo, and the second one is called PS4 Slim. Both of these consoles, as well as a new controller, are expected to be unveiled at a Sony PlayStation event in New York City. At the time of writing, Sony hasn’t yet confirmed the existence of the Slim console, however.
Still, if you’re interested in what it is or what it might feature, or maybe you want to know more about that PS4 Neo, which is supposed to bring 4K capabilities, we’ve given a quick overview of what Sony might unveil at its event.
When is Sony’s PS event?
Journalists received invites to a “PlayStation Meeting” scheduled for 7 September at 3pm EST at the PlayStation Theater in New York.
What can you expect from Sony’s PS event?
Pocket-lint
PS4 NEO (PS4K/PS4.5)
The PS4 Neo – also called the PS4K or PS4.5 – is set to be officially unveiled during an event in New York on 7 September. The new console will be able to upscale current PS4 titles to 4K and support games with improved visual fidelity, which benefits the company’s upcoming Playstation VR headset. In other words, it’s basically a souped-up PlayStation 4, bringing upgraded hardware specs and better graphical performance.
Sony’s console is also expected to feature an Ultra HD Blu-ray player. PS4 games will work on the console, too, and they’ll receive a boost in performance. Moreover, no game will be exclusive to the new console. Games will have an enhanced mode that will improve the graphics on the upgraded version, but they’ll still work on normal PS4 consoles. The PS4 Neo is intended to sit alongside and compliment the standard PS4.
Sony has already confirmed the console’s existence. We’re just waiting on the company to launch it. At the moment there are no details on a price for the console, but chances are, this will be a pricey upgrade. We already know a lot about PS4 Neo, thanks to a series of leaks as well as a direct confirmation from Sony’s Andrew House, but check out Pocket-lint’s rumour round-up for more details about the console:
- Sony PlayStation 4K: What is PS4.5/Neo?
@Shortmaneighty2
PS4 Slim
The Wall Street Journal has reported that we can expect two consoles to launch at Sony’s New York event: the rumoured PS4 Neo and a new “standard” slim model. All attention has been on a future high-powered console, and so no one expected a Slim model to be announced too. Sony has a history of revamping consoles, usually with a launch of the Slim with a lower price to attract those yet to jump on the PS platform.
While the PS4 Neo is expected to offer 4K output and more beefed-up internals, the PS4 Slim is expected to be a slimmer version of the existing PS4. It’s a console upgrade that’s becoming pretty standard in the industry. (Think of the PS3 Slim, and even the recently released Xbox One S, which has a smaller body and slightly improved features such as a built-in 4K UHD Blu-Ray player.)
Keep in mind a PS4 Slim appeared on auction site Gumtree recently, revealing a Marmite design. From that leak, we can see that the PS4 Slim is significantly slimmer than its predecessor and has most of the same connectors as the standard PS4. It has a power port, accessory port, HDMI out and Ethernet port. There’s no more details yet on other features the console might bring. We don’t even know pricing.
Some reports have suggested that the new PS4 Slim has the same capabilities as the existing PS4, rather than offering any sort of upgrade, but other reports, such as a recent analysis performed by the folks at Digital Foundry, has shown souped up internals for improved game framerates.
ZRZ (YouTube) via Engadget
PS4 Slim controller
The PS4 Slim might get a new controller, according to a recent leak. It looks as though the new controller isn’t going to vary too much from the DualShock controller of the PS4, but there’s a change to the light bar, now showing through on the top of the controller. Originally there was a video of this new controller shared by ZRZ on YouTube. A picture of the controller is floating around still, however, thanks to Engadget.
To verify the new design, a gamer who was able to buy that original PS4 Slim from Gumtree, has confirmed that this visible bar on the top just looks like a transparent section, allowing the light that shows at the front to be seen on the top too. Speculation suggested that this might be for linking-up with PS VR when it launches. With the number of leaks appearing, this is all looking likely.
‘Pokémon Go’ update explains which monsters are the best
Despite its incredible initial popularity, Pokémon Go has faced a number of issues since launch beyond just keeping its servers working. A Bloomberg report cites analyst numbers claiming the game’s active users have shrunk by more than 10 million from their mid-July peak, which makes keeping the remaining players happy even more important. An update that just arrived on Android and iOS is trying to address that, pulling in the recently-added Team Leader characters to give players advice on their Pokémon.
The only problem is that, as you can see in the screenshots, the advice is pretty vague and may not give casual players any useful info. Basically, by pressing the appraisal button while looking at a captured Pokémon, players can get feedback that indicates how that particular Pokémon’s stats compare to others of its species. That’s the kind of feedback you’ll need before deciding which ones to evolve, battle or trade to the professor — but only if you can understand what’s going on. The Pokémon Go Database fan site has a list of all the possible responses and what they mean in terms of numbers, acting as an explainer to the explanation feature.
As-is, it’s a small step towards helping players understand what’s going on without needing to search out help online, while the changelog indicates that Niantic is also working on “rebalancing” the training battle. So many areas of the game could use work to provide better rewards for time invested it’s hard to pick out just one, but that’s apparently what’s coming next. You can grab the new update on iTunes or Google Play right now — let us know if a few one-liners from Spark, Blanche and Candela are enough to keep you playing.
Source: Pokémon Go, iTunes, Google Play
Revisit 2005 by playing ‘Call of Duty 2’ on your Xbox One
Back before Call of Duty went full-on Michael Bay, the series focused on historical conflicts ignored by the then unstoppable Medal of Honor series. Xbox 360 launch title Call of Duty 2 was the last game in the series from original developer Infinity Ward to do such. And now, you have the chance to play through the Battle of Pointe du Hoc once again. How’s that? The objective-based WWII shooter is now backward compatible on Xbox One. If nothing else, it’s an interesting glimpse both at how much the franchise has changed and how FPS themselves have evolved over the past 11 years. Because, even in 2005, CoD 2 was considered a bit old-school in terms of design.
The best part is that it’s free — assuming you still have the original disc, of course. Everyone else can cough up $20 for it via the Xbox Game Store. Now’s a good of time as any to try finishing your run through the campaign on “veteran” difficulty, no? I can’t think of a better way to prep for Modern Warfare Remastered, myself.
Via: Eurogamer
Source: Xbox Game Store
12 Mac search tips from a Spotlight addict – CNET
Matt Elliott/CNET
Spotlight search is a handy tool for any Mac user, even if you use it only to locate files. If you become familar with these tips they way I have, you can get around your Mac faster — and without reaching for the mouse.
1. First things first: The Spotlight keyboard shortcut
You can click the magnifying-glass button in the upper-right corner of your screen, but a faster way is with the keyboard shortcut Command-spacebar.
2. Move and resize Spotlight
If your search returns an abundance of results, you can drag the bottom of the window to expand Spotlight. You can also reposition the Spotlight window by dragging its top edge. Your Mac remembers the last position and size of your Spotlight window, so you’ll find it in the same spot and the search results window the same size the next time you call it up. To return Spotlight to its default position and size, click and hold on the magnifying glass icon.
3. Use natural language
With Siri coming to MacOS Sierra, you’ll soon be able to use your voice to ask your Mac to find a file or retrieve information. At the present, you can use natural language queries with Spotlight. You can ask Spotlight, for example, to show you “photos from yesterday” or “files from last month.”
4. Coming up, sports and weather
Type “weather” into Spotlight to get your current conditions and 10-day forecast without leaving Spotlight. Enter “weather in San Francisco” to get weather for the City by the Bay or any other city of your choosing.
You can also get sports scores (“Red Sox score”) and schedules (“Ohio State schedule”) right within Spotlight in the same manner.
5. Quick calculations
Your Mac has a calculator app, but for quick calculations, you can simply use Spotlight.
6. Currency conversion
Traveling overseas or just like to keep your finger on the pulse of international currency markets? Spotlight can give you current exchange rates.
7. Open Finder
When searching for a file, you can highlight the file in Spotlight and hit Enter to open it. Alternatively, you can hit Command-Enter to open the folder in Finder containing the file.
8. Find the location of a file
Highlight a file and hold down Command to see its location. Its path shows up along the bottom edge of the right panel of Spotlight.
9. Jump to the next section of results
Spotlight organizes search results into various sections, from Top Hits, Documents and Spreadsheets to Wikipedia, Suggested Websites and Definitions. You can jump from one section to the next by using Command and the up and down arrow keys.
10. Jump to a definition
Hit Command-L to jump directly to the definition of your search term.
11. Switch from Spotlight to Google
If you need to ditch Spotlight in favor of Google for a particular search, you can easily do so. Hit Command-B to open a new tab in your default browser using your default search engine.
12. Quickly clear the search bar
Hit Escape (or Command-Delete) to clear the Spotlight’s search box. Hit Escape again to close Spotlight. You can also just click outside of Spotlight to close it.
If none of this sounds appealing, then you can ditch Spotlight for this genius universal search bar on Mac.
Pokemon Go’s new ‘Appraisal’ feature: What it is and how to use it – CNET
Your team leader will tell you all about your Pokemon’s fighting qualities.
Alina Bradford/CNET
Pokemon Go has finally gotten another update and those elusive team leaders finally have a job after a couple months of rumors and hopeful wishing from players.
Team leaders now teach players about a Pokémon’s attack and defense capabilities. Niantic calls this new ability a “Pokémon appraisal.” Luckily, you don’t need to find a gym to speak with your team leader.
Go to your Pokemon screen and tap on the one you would like to know more about. Tap the round button in the lower right-hand of the screen to open the menu. Instead of trading the Pokemon in for candy, tap the Appraise option.
Your team leader, Candela, Blanche or Spark will pop up on the screen and will ask if you want to know more about the Pokemon.
Tap the screen. After reading the text, tap the screen again to continue the conversation. Your team leader will tell you the Pokemon’s strengths and weaknesses through various screens.
The team leaders will also tell you if your Pokemon is large, or on the puny side. Some believe that heavier Pokemon hit harder while smaller Pokemon dodge better, though this hasn’t been confirmed by Niantic. There are some achievements for capturing small Pokemon, so knowing the size can be helpful.
Revel F36 review – CNET
The Good The Revel F36 is a 21st century audiophile tower with oodles of detail and resolution, and a broad, yet clearly focused soundstage.
The Bad It’s a big and imposing design. The speaker’s revealing nature exposes poor recordings.
The Bottom Line The Revel Concerta2 F36 floorstander is a beautifully-made speaker which makes great sounding recordings shine.
For going on 20 years Revel has been one of the most respected American speaker companies, finding favor with audiophiles and recording industry pros. The company’s selection currently includes a number of high-end towers, such as the Salon2 and Studio2, starting at $16,000 per pair.
The F36 tower is much more affordable at $2,000, £1,995, AU$3,395 per pair, and it sounds great for the price. It’s an ideal choice for audiophiles craving more resolution and dynamic range scale than you’ll get from smaller and less expensive models.
View full gallery
The Revel Concerta2 F36 is a hi-fi speaker which offers a 2.5-way design and revealing sound quality.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The F36s we reviewed here — decked out in impeccable, high-gloss white — are big boys. They would probably seem a little smaller in black gloss, the other available finish.
2016 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited review – Roadshow
The Good The 2016 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited is an excellent off-road vehicle. It has all the mechanical goodies to make your dreams of dirt adventure come true.
The Bad You’ll have to suffer when driving on the pavement. Sure, the road noise and floaty drive may be part of the Wrangler’s charm…but only for the first few hundred miles. The infotainment system is merely average, offering outdated Garmin maps and no backup camera.
The Bottom Line The Wrangler Rubicon lets drivers take on whatever endeavor they choose, but they may pay for it in on-road comfort and media connectivity.
I stopped the 2016 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon at the bottom of the rock pile. Ahead of me were boulders the size of laundry baskets stacked pell-mell on top of each other. I got out to scout, mentally taking a picture of where I would place each wheel as I climbed the hill. Satisfied, I buckled in, put the Jeep into 4L, locked my front and rear differentials and started rock crawling.
The Jeep has quite a history in the United States. Some even say we would all be speaking German if it weren’t for the trusty little four-wheeler. While I’m not one to judge geopolitical events, I will say that the Jeep is as American as Mom and apple pie, eliciting feelings of freedom and independence as no other vehicle can.
Nick Miotke/Roadshow
The Wrangler is the SUV you want in the event of a zombie apocalypse. Even the base Sport is capable in its own right. But you, dear Roadshow readers, are not base kind of folk. You are Unlimited Rubicon folk, the top dawg of 4x4s. With four doors, hence the Unlimited nomenclature, and all the off-road bells and whistles, the Unlimited Rubicon Wrangler is made for getting you into nature, and out of trouble.
Nick Miotke/Roadshow
Powered by a 3.6-liter V6 engine, the Wrangler makes 285 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque. A six-speed manual transmission is standard but my tester came with the five-speed automatic. Word on the street is that a diesel, already available in Europe, is in the works for 2017 as well as an eight-speed automatic transmission, but that’s straight out of the rumor mill.
Still, this gas-powered dirt genius gets all the off-road goodies a wheeler could want. Dana 44 heavy-duty front and rear locking axles, disconnecting front sway bar, 10 inches of ground clearance; all are essential to getting to the top of the rock pile, but the keys are the 4:1 low gearing and the 4.10 axle ratio. Sure, the axle ratio will cost you about $700, but it puts more torque to each wheel. When paired with the super-low gearing it’s possible to crawl over weighty obstacles with low speed and greater control.
Unfortunately, all the axle ratios in the world won’t help you if you pick the wrong line. I was halfway up the rock pile before I realized I’d put myself in a precarious situation. The BF Goodrich KO2 tires were trying their damnedest, but I’d gotten a rear wheel up in the air and the rocks were too slick for the remaining three tires to get a purchase. I looked out the door (because of course I had taken the doors off) and realized I was off my intended mark. Had I placed my front driver tire just 2 inches to the left, I would have been OK. As it was, I had no choice but to build a bridge under my open tire with my Maxtrax recovery boards and reverse out of it.
A few bangs and crashes to the skid plates later and I was at the bottom of the rock pile, the Jeep no worse for the wear. My ego, however, was crushed.
Still, there were plenty of obstacles to conquer at The Mounds Off Road Vehicle Park about an hour and a half outside of Detroit, all of which the Jeep, and more importantly the driver, did without a problem. Steep and sandy hills were easy. An approach angle of 42.2 degrees meant I could hit precipitous inclines with speed and not worry about hitting the steel front bumper. Coming over sharp crests is easy with a 21.2-degree breakover angle, and add 4 more degrees to that spec with the standard, two-door Wrangler Rubicon. Coming down a steep face can be done the old-school way, in 4L or with the hill-descent control feature. Don’t worry about the rear steel bumper scraping, as the Rubicon has a departure angle of 32.5 degrees.
Look at the Xbox 360’s cancelled ‘Goldeneye 007’ HD remaster
It’s one of those bits of gaming trivia that punches a specific generation of players square in the gut: There was once an Xbox Live port of Goldeneye 007 in the works, but it was cancelled. It’s true — Activation was porting the Nintendo 64 classic to the Xbox 360 back in 2008, but the project was canned when Microsoft and Nintendo couldn’t reach a licensing agreement. The good news? Today we finally get a look at what the game would have been — known leaker Rare Thief has posted 30 minutes of gameplay footage.
For fans of the original game, the video is a bittersweet revelation. Here, we see everything fans wanted from the XBLA remake: the complete, classic single player campaign, new high resolution textures, a much improved framerate of 60 fps and the complete multiplayer experienced tailored to online play over Xbox Live. Better still are the new features players missed out on, including new multiplayer levels, an option that equals all character heights (Take that, Oddjob) and an option to instantly switch between classic and HD graphic modes.
It’s nice to see what almost was, if a bit sad to know we’ll never be able to play it. That’s something we’ll all have to come to terms with — but hey, at least we still have Goldeneye: Source.
Source: Rare Thief, YouTube
AIVAnet 