Samsung’s Secure Folder creates a private space for your apps and files

Samsung’s Secure Folder is now available for the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge.

Samsung has officially released the Secure Folder app for the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge on the Galaxy Apps store. Secure Folder relies on Samsung’s Knox security platform to set up a secure encrypted zone on your phone. Anything you store in the Secure Folder — apps, files, documents, or images — will be hidden behind an added layer of authentication, which can be accessed by a PIN, pattern lock, passcode, or biometric verification.

Apps that run in the Secure Folder are sandboxed, which provides an added layer of security while making it convenient to run two instances of an app on the same phone. You can customize the name of Secure Folder, or hide it altogether from the home screen for added privacy. Samsung also allows you to backup the contents of the Secure Folder and restore the data when switching to a new phone, with the data tied to your Samsung account.

You’ll need to be running Nougat on the S7 and S7 edge for Secure Folder to work, and Samsung mentions that it will add support for other devices soon. Phones in the Galaxy A 2017 series already offer the feature, and it should be rolling out to the Galaxy S6 once it picks up the Nougat update.

Bragi The Headphone review: The One?

It could be argued that Bragi is the company that started off the whole revolution of completely wire-free earphones. Before Samsung and Apple brought their respective Icon X and AirPods to the table and, with them, a larger audience in the audio market, there was Bragi’s Dash. 

The Dash promised to not only give you fully untethered stereo sound, but also fitness-tracking. It’s an ambitious and fairly expensive product that has some interesting points going for it – but, as we pointed out in our review, has shortcomings. 

With The Headphone, Bragi has essentially released a stripped-back, more affordable pair of earphones which, for us, are the better suited pair. Here’s why.

Bragi The Headphone review: Design

• Completely wireless design
• Charging case with magnetic docks

If you’ve seen the Bragi Dash, The Headphone will seem immediately familiar. Bragi has kept many of the same design choices, just without some of the seamlessness, finesse and shine of the more premium set. Oh, and the name isn’t exactly thoughtful either.

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The body of the earbuds is curved nicely to ensure a comfortably fit in the ear, with the eartip and driver built into the end of a tiny arm that extends out of the main body. It is just a glossy plastic though, there’s no grippy finish on top like the Motorola VerveOnes+.

While The Headphone may not look or feel like a premium set of earbuds, each is still comfortable to wear for extended periods. They’re light enough that you don’t feel like you’re working hard to have them in your ears, and fit well, even without any of the provided FitSleeves applied. If you do find them a little loose, you can use different tips/sleeves to make them more snug.

Although The Headphone in-ears aren’t specifically designed for sports, we found the earphones did a great job of sticking in our ears – they didn’t fall out once during our testing; even a vigorous head-shake couldn’t dislodge them.

On the underside you’ll find tiny gold contact points and two miniature magnets which match those found inside the plastic carrying case. These, as you would expect, are to ensure the earphones stay secure inside the case, and charge up while they’re there. As well as keeping them securely connected while on the go, the magnets also ensure the earphones line up and snap into place when you go to stow them. You don’t have to fiddle to get the contacts lined up.

On the outside, the left ear features a slightly raised Bragi logo, while the right features three multi-functional buttons. The volume up and down buttons also switch audio transparency on or off, depending on whether you just press or press-and-hold. The power button also has multiple functions: play/pause, skip track, end call and voice-control activation. Which function it performs depends on whether you press it once, twice or three times, or press-and-hold it for one second or three seconds.

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In practical use, the buttons are generally easy to press, and you soon get used to the position of them. However, they are quite fiddly – especially if you want to launch the secondary features.

Once you’re done listening, you snap The Headphone earphones back into their carrying case, and then slip over the hard plastic sleeve and – if you want to – hang them around your neck using the built in strap. Unlike the Apple AirPods or Bragi Dash case, however, this one doesn’t have any built-in battery, so the earphones will only charge when you plug the case into its Micro-USB cable.

Bragi The Headphone review: Features & performance

• Six hours of playback
• Passive noise isolation
• Audio transparency feature
• Auto play/pause when removed

With The Headphone, Bragi has opted to keep things simpler compared to its Dash product, by not including the multitude of built-in sensors. The Headphone, therefore, stick with being just that – in-ear headphones. There are no sensors for measuring heart rate, no high-end gyroscopic sensors or accelerometers for measuring movement, and no touch sensitive surface.

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All of this stripped-back-ness should result in a few positives. Firstly, there’s the added bonus of The Headphone only needing one connection, rather than two. Secondly, The Headphone is much cheaper than Bragi’s original trendsetter Dash: at €169 it’s almost half the price.

Saying that, there are a couple of features that make them more than a bottom rung pair of earphones. Firstly, they pause automatically when you remove the right earbud from your ear, suggesting there is a motion sensor of some kind in the right earbud. Secondly, there are ambient noise mics designed to let in noise from the outside, but it must be said this second feature doesn’t work that well, only letting through high pitched noises rather than anything else.

Since The Headphone in-ears don’t have a battery-equipped charging case to fall back on, Bragi has blessed its more budget option with batteries that last up to six hours on a single charge. For the most part, they last well – comfortably enough to get you through your daily commutes for a few days. Once drained, they take two hours to refill.

Bragi The Headphone review: Sound Quality

• Knowles Balanced Armature Speakers
• AAC and SBC audio codec

Despite not having the most audiophile-friendly sound profile, The Headphone still provide a pleasant listen. It does require some work to get the best sound, however: we found that we couldn’t just stick them in our ears and have brilliant audio. The fit needs to be very snug in order for the bass and middle frequencies to shine. A number of times, before tweaking the position, the music sounded flat and a little lifeless. After adjustment, the balance was pleasant.

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Bass levels are fairly high, so clarity is a little lacking overall, but we had no real issues when listening to our favourite albums – especially considering that these cost around the same amount as the Apple AirPods.

While high-end frequencies don’t ring, as such, there are much worse sounding earphones, plus we don’t like overly sharp in-ears. Over all, The Headphone’s audio balance is rather good.

Verdict

On the whole, it’s important to look at the price point of The Headphone before being overly critical about its lack of high-end features versus the more expensive Dash. For the money, there’s very little else out there that will match its performance or reliability, at least not in this form factor.

They’re comfortable to wear, sound decent and the connection is solid. What’s more, you don’t need to mess around setting up two different connections to the same pair of earphones like you do with some other more feature-packed earphones. 

Alternatives to consider…

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Apple AirPods

Apple AirPods are an easy recommendation for iPhone users, because they’re desinged to be super convenient. They come in a tiny case that’s barely noticeable in your pocket, and connect more easily to phones thanks to that W1 chip.

Read the full review: Apple Airpods review: Wire-free future or design disaster?

Available for £159/$159 from Apple. If you need them immediately, you can pay a £70 premium on Amazon.co.uk or $120 premium on Amazon.com. 

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Jabra Elite Sport

They might be bigger, but the performance and sound of the Jabra Elite Sport is probably better than most other earphones in this category as it stands. They’re a little uncomfortable to wear, but they’re super secure in the ears and have some great fitness tracking features. 

Read the full review: Jabra Elite Sport review: These are the AirPods you really want

They’re available for £229 from Amazon in the UK, or $249 from Amazon in the US. 

Motorola VerveOnes+ review: Bittersweet symphony

Now that completely wire-free headphones are a realistic product, many companies have jumped on board the bandwagon. Apple, Samsung and Jabra joined the likes of Bragi in the relatively new market, as has Motorola with its Verve Life lineup. 

Moto VerveOnes+ review: Design

• HZO water- and sweat-resistant coating
• Carrying case with built-in battery
• Black and orange colour finish

As designs go, the VerveOnes+ are eye-catching. The chunky two-tone black and orange teardrop is built entirely from plastic, with a circular button on the outside. Like almost all other completely wireless earphones on the market from the likes of Jabra, Bragi and Samsung, there are contact points built into the surface of the ear buds for charging the internal batteries when placed inside the carrying case. 

• Apple AirPods review: Wire-free future or design disaster?
• Jabra Elite Sport review: These are the Airpods you really want
• Bragi Dash review: The sound of the future?

Credit goes to Motorola for the design of the case as well. It may not be as neat and small as the Apple AirPods case, but the rotating action for opening and shutting it is pleasing.

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The same can’t be said of the insertion and removal of the earphones from their cradles though: rather than use magnets to keep the earphones in, Motorola has opted for tiny latches that clip onto matching indents in the sides of the earphones. While it’s not exactly difficult to place them in their spaces, or remove them, it’s not as easy and convenient as it could be. It can be fiddly.

Saying that, once the VerveOnes+ are placed in the ears, they’re easy to wear and relatively comfortable. The plastic casing is coated in a grippy finish to ensure that they won’t fall out easily, and despite them sometimes feel a little off balance, they don’t become dislodged at all.

If the initial fit isn’t right, there are small, medium and large silicone ear-tips in regular single form and with the popular double-flange design. 

As well as being easy to wear and secure, the VerveOnes+ are IP57 certified, meaning they’re water- and dust-resistant to high levels, their internals have also been treated with a special coating to keep them protected from moisture. In real life, that means you can use them on your sweatiest workouts, and the earphones survive through them. 

• IP ratings: What do these water- and dust-resistant numbers actually mean?

Moto VerveOnes+ review: Features and performance

• 12-hour battery
• 10m/33ft range
• Bluetooth 4.1 & A2DP

In theory, connecting the VerveOnes+ to your phone should be very easy. All that’s required from a user standpoint is to remove the headphones from their case, put them in your ears and go into your phone’s Bluetooth menu to pair them. Except, in reality, it’s not so simple. 

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In our setup process, we selected to pair the earphones with an iPhone and watched it disconnect and reconnect a few times every second. We then placed them back in their case, told the iPhone to forget the device, and started again. Thankfully, the second time, it stuck. 

Then came pairing the Hubble Connect app with the earphones, which was a separate process. With the app, you need to place the earphones in the case, slide it shut, then open. Once connected you can see the last known location of the earphones, adjust equaliser (EQ) settings and check battery levels for both earphones. 

The bizarre part here is that you can’t connect using the app while you’re using the earphones for listening to music. So you can’t adjust the EQ from the app and hear the differences in real-time. If you want to use the app, you have to put them in the case, open the app, choose a preset EQ balance, then put them back in your ears and listen to see if you like it.

You can use the single button on either earphone to switch EQ presets as well. Just press-and-hold it to hear which preset it is, press-and-hold again to hear the next preset, then single click to choose that one. It’s not exactly intuitive, but it saves clipping in and removing them from the case multiple times. Both methods of choosing an EQ preset seem counter-productive. 

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Once in the ears and connected we found the Bluetooth experience was rock solid (tested when paired with an iPhone). Even going out for a run with our phone strapped around our waist it proved no problem for the VerveOnes+ – there wasn’t even the slightest glitch.

While other manufacturers’ earphones have multiple controls, the Motorola pair only have a single button on each ear, with both sides performing the same function. One press will start or stop the music, while a long press takes you to the EQ preset settings. 

Once you’re done listening, you place the VerveOnes+ back in to the carrying case, then they’re supposed to automatically disconnect from the phone, but sadly that wasn’t always the case. Even when clicked in to place, sometimes we found that the audio connection was still active and audio was still playing through the earphones. Most days, putting them away also meant going into the Bluetooth menu and manually disconnecting. You can set them to automatically stop the music as soon as they’re out of your ears, using the app to toggle that setting, although again it didn’t seem to work consistently. 

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As for the earbuds’ built-in batteries, we got down to 75 per cent after listening to about 30 mins of music, suggesting a playing time of around two hours without needing to be stuck back in to their cradle. 

Combined with the battery pack in the case that recharges the earphones, Motorola claims up to 12-hours of playback from the VerveOnes+. That’s around six full recharges then.

Moto VerveOnes+ review: Sound

• Six EQ presets
• HD speakers

Down to one of the most important features: sound quality. The VerveOnes+ are certainly decent enough to listen to for a few hours. They could be criticised for being a little bass heavy, but having a lot of bass driving the tunes while you workout isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Critical ears might find them a bit too muddy sounding.

The main sound issue we had was sometimes a hissing, or similar noise which we only noticed during quieter songs, or during the more sparse breakdowns in our favourite tunes. It wasn’t constant. But if you’re using the earphones for workouts, it’s not likely to bother you at all since you won’t notice it. 

As mentioned previously, there are some EQ presets to choose from which alter the profile of the sound. So if you want even more bass, you can select the “Bass” setting. Less bass, go for the “Balanced” setting. None of the EQ presets are especially clear though. The most balanced and clear setting is “Brilliant” which does a decent job removing the muddy tendencies of the other presets and is the only one with any ring. 

Verdict

The VerveOnes+ are the epitome of why Apple designed a custom chip to make Bluetooth pairing easy in its AirPods and new Beats X earphones. The Motorolas have a temperamental pairing experience, along with unreliable auto-disconnecting when placed in the case. However, the Motorolas also offer a more snug fit and better sound. 

At their original price point of £229 the VerveOnes+ are difficult to recommend, considering how solid our experience was with the similarly priced Jabra Elite Sport, but their current £179 price tag (on Amazon) keeps things competitive. Especially for wireless in-ears that are loud and bassy enough to help you keep driving on during those workouts.

Alternatives to consider…

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Jabra Elite Sport

The Jabra Elite Sport have been the outstanding performers of the completely wireless earphones we’ve tested so far. They offer a rock solid connection, to each other and the phone, and sound good too. Perhaps the only thing to be careful of is to always keep the carry case battery charged, the Jabras don’t disconnect from your phone unless they’re placed in a non-depleted case. 

Read the full review: Jabra Elite Sport review: These are the AirPods you really want

You can buy them from Amazon UK for £229, or from Amazon US for $249. 

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Apple Airpods

AirPods make the list of alternatives for being, without doubt, the most convenient pair of earphones on the market for iPhone owners. They connect without any of the usual old-school Bluetooth problems, thanks to the W1 chip, they’re small, light and reliable. 

Read the full review: Apple AirPods review: Wire-free future or design disaster?

You can buy AirPods from Apple in the UK and US for £159 and $159 respectively.

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Bragi The Headphone

They may not be the most tech-packed pair of headphones around, but The Headphone by Bragi is both cheaper and more reliable than the more expensive pair from the same manufacturer. In fact, if you can live without the water and dust resistance, and without a battery pack in the case, The Headphone is a relatively safe, affordable recommendation. 

Read the full review: Bragi The Headphone review

The Headphone is available to buy direct from Bragi for €169 in Europe, or $149 in the US. 

Alexa could come to a whole host of Bluetooth devices, thanks to Qualcomm

Qualcomm has confirmed that it’s taking steps to enable the Alexa wake word on Bluetooth devices, thanks to software support in some of the latest Qualcomm Bluetooth Audio chips. 

For those wanting the technical details, it’s the CSR8670 and CSR8675 chipsets that are Alexa enabled, with software from Sensory Inc and Rubidium Ltd, meaning that developers will be able to integrate Amazon’s Alexa skills into Bluetooth devices, licensing the software through the Qualcomm eXtension program. 

Qualcomm specifies that in this case, Alexa would be supported natively on the Bluetooth device, with the intention that the communication with Alexa is then transferred via an app on a connected smartphone.

• 12 best Alexa devices you can buy today

Putting this into real world use, this would allow you to speak to Alexa via your Bluetooth headset, perhaps to get information from Alexa, or for other tasks, like adding reminders.

Exactly how far the Alexa offering will go remains to be seen: Alexa is currently marching into a whole host of devices, expanding well beyond the original implementation in the Amazon Echo devices. It’s now finding its way into other speakers, phones and connected devices, with a rapidly expanding ecosystem. 

Qualcomm also details that it will be supported “barge-in” operation. This means that the Alexa wake word would be operational while music is playing – just like the Amazon Echo, that means you’ll be able to talk to Alexa over the top of whatever else is going on. 

From a consumer point of view, this latest development from Qualcomm is just a piece of a bigger puzzle, but it should mean that developers find it easier to bring Alexa to more devices in the near future.

• What can Alexa do and what services are compatible?

The Morning After: Friday, February 24 2017

Good morning. We spent two days with the Nintendo Switch and we have feelings. Amazon is citing the First Amendment in defense of its robot Alexa, and we look forward to transforming into cups and bananas in Bethesda’s forthcoming Prey.

Nintendo still has to prove itself.
48 hours with the Nintendo Switch

Even without a Virtual Console, is the Switch more like the Wii, Nintendo’s ambitious and wildly successful console which unearthed a whole new audience of casual gamers, or the Wii U, the half-baked followup that even the company’s hardcore fans never truly adopted? That was the main question we had as we started testing the new console this week. Here are our thoughts.

This will be a very different show from years past.
All the smartphones we expect to see at MWC 2017

It’s that time of year again. Barcelona, with its stunning architecture and succulent jamón, will soon be packed with new smartphones, tablets, wearables, networking gear, app developers and, well, tech journalists like us. But things are going to be a little different this year. You can expect phones from LG, Sony, but we’re unlikely to see them from HTC and Samsung — not that they’ll have nothing to show…

OnFlubGoogle glitch freezes OnHub, WiFi routers

The networking devices Google rolled out are supposed to make your WiFi situation easier to manage, but that wasn’t true yesterday. The company says an issue with its Accounts Engine caused problems for many owners of the routers, who needed a hard reset to get going again. That’s a minor inconvenience for some, and more of an issue for others who may have used the devices at remote locations, or with custom settings that the software doesn’t allow users to backup.

Former Google employees may have stolen thousands of secret documents.
Alphabet sues Uber over Waymo’s self-driving car tech

Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous car business, has sued Uber for allegedly stealing crucial technical information about its self-driving technology. Waymo’s lawsuit targets Otto, a promising self-driving truck startup that Uber acquired in mid-2016. As we noted in August, Otto was founded and staffed by former Google employees, including Anthony Levandowski.

Making your gaming laptop portable again.Razer’s USB-C Power Bank will keep your laptop running

Gaming laptops are great — unless you’re on the go. All of that power usually means a compromise on battery life, which means there’s probably a solid market for Razer’s new battery pack. The 12,800mAh Power Bank isn’t especially large, but it is ready to keep your USB-C laptop (whether it’s a Blade Stealth, XPS 13 or Macbook) powered for a few extra hours. In the case of the Blade Stealth, using it should keep you going for up to 15 hours.

You can be anything! (Well, some things.)

Behold, the insane shape-shifting potential of ‘Prey’

I’m a little teapot, short and stout.

It’s Google’s newest old messaging appGoogle Messenger turns into Android Messages

Google wants texting to work more like iMessage or Whatsapp. As part of a push to expand Rich Communications Services (RCS) support, the company is renaming its main Android SMS app. Now dubbed Android Messages, it is… almost exactly the same as it was before. Hopefully, the new name will get this app on more Android devices, and push carriers to adopt RCS standard features that will tighten up group texts, photo sharing and read receipts.

But wait, there’s more…

• Getting all the ‘Hearthstone’ cards will be more expensive than ever
• In the NBA’s eSports league, diversity means a new kind of athlete
• Amazon cites First Amendment while refusing to hand over Alexa/Echo data to cops investigating a murder

Samsung to change donation policies amid bribery scandal

In the last six months, Samsung has been no stranger to scandal. Since September, it’s hurriedly dealt with the fallout from its Galaxy Note 7 recall, and in recent weeks has been thrust into an investigation over bribery claims involving some of its top executives. After staying mostly silent on the South Korean monetary probe, the electronics giant today issued a statement outlining steps to stop it from finding itself in similar position in the future.

From today, Samsung requires all donations over 1 billion won ($883,680) to be approved by the board of directors and for payments to be shared publicly via South Korea’s financial regulator. Previously, only payments over 680 billion won ($600.9 million) needed the thumbs up from the board.

The company says those steps will “enhance the transparency of the management of such donations and funds and to strengthen the compliance” — making it more accountable by allowing transfers to be scrutinized by outside parties.

Samsung’s actions come after vice chairman Lee Jae-yong (better known as Jay Y. Lee) was arrested for allegedly donating 43 billion won ($38 million) in bribes in 2015 to companies backed by Choi Soon-sil, friend and adviser to President Park Geun-hye, in order to ingratiate himself and promote his rise inside the company.

It’s not the first time a high-ranking official has been embroiled in a financial scandal. In 2008, Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, who then served as the company’s chief executive, was accused of using a 200 billion won (roughly $200 million) budget to bribe prosecutors and politicians into ignoring the company’s financial wrongdoing.

Despite facing a seven-year jail sentence and a 350 billion won ($310 million) fine, Lee, who is Korea’s richest man, received a suspended three-year sentence and was told to pay just 110 billion won ($97.4 million) in damages.

Lee Jae-yong is now being held in a detention center while he waits for proceedings to come to an end. It’s believed it could take as long as 18 months for a trial and verdict to be reached.

Via: Reuters

Source: Samsung

Steve Jobs Would Have Been 62 Today While MacRumors Turns 17

Steve Jobs, born on February 24, 1955, would have celebrated his 62nd birthday today. The late Apple co-founder, who passed away on October 5, 2011 following a lengthy battle with cancer, is remembered not only as a visionary and marketing genius, but also as a friend, father, and husband.

Jobs, who co-founded Apple in 1976 with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, introduced three of Apple’s most iconic products in its history: the Macintosh in 1984, and after a twelve-year absence from the company, the iPod in 2001 and iPhone in 2007. His iconic career had its fair share of highs and lows.

In 1985, following a power struggle with then-CEO John Sculley, Jobs resigned from Apple. He went on to found NeXT later that year, and while its hardware business was largely unsuccessful, Apple acquired the company in 1997 to use its NeXTSTEP operating system as the foundation of Mac OS X.

Jobs would become Apple CEO again later that year and guide it from the brink of bankruptcy in the late 1990s to become the world’s most valuable company just two months prior to his death. His legacy lives on at Apple, which recently said the theater on its new Apple Park campus will be named after him.

Apple CEO Tim Cook:

“Steve’s vision for Apple stretched far beyond his time with us. He intended Apple Park to be the home of innovation for generations to come,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The workspaces and parklands are designed to inspire our team as well as benefit the environment. We’ve achieved the most energy-efficient building of its kind in the world and the campus will run entirely on renewable energy.”

Coincidentally, today also marks the 17th anniversary of MacRumors.com, founded by Arnold Kim on February 24, 2000 during his fourth year of medical school. Kim stopped practicing medicine in 2008 to focus on this website full time, and the community now reaches millions of Apple fans around the world.

As always, we express our gratitude to our readers, forum members, contributors, volunteers, sponsors, and all those who allow us to continue sharing the latest Apple news and rumors.

Tag: Steve Jobs
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Acer’s smart Air Monitor will let you know if you’re breathing easy

Why it matters to you

If you’re sensitive to your surroundings and like the idea of keeping tabs on the air quality, Acer’s new smart monitor is something to consider.

Acer has just released another monitor, but it’s not the kind you might be expecting.

The smart device we’re talking about here is the it-does-what-it-says-on-the-tin “Air Monitor.”

That’s right, this time around the company wants to help you keep track of air quality in your home, office, or any other indoor area that you spend time pottering about in.

Announced by the Taiwanese firm on Thursday, the stylish-looking machine allows real-time monitoring of a raft of key air quality indicators, namely TVOC (Total Volatile Organic Compounds found in some cleaning products, air fresheners, etc.), carbon dioxide, particulate matter, temperature, and humidity.

Acer’s Air Monitor lets you know if the air you’re breathing is turning nasty via its accompanying smartphone app, or through the device’s built-in LED lights, which change color to grab your attention.

Regarding the LEDs, Acer adds that “an integrated sensor automatically turns off the light when the ambient lighting is dimmed to a certain level to prevent distracting users while they sleep.”

In addition, IFTTT integration means you can set up home or office automation based on the device’s air quality indicators, so if the atmosphere turns bad an air purifier, for example, can be automatically activated.

More: Allergies acting up? These five air purifiers can offer relief

Acer points to research from the U.S. and Europe indicating that on average people spend around 90 percent of their time indoors — “at home, at work, and everywhere in between.” While you might think your indoor air quality is fine, perhaps it isn’t the case if you live on a busy street in a big city. Pollution experts also point to gas cookers, wood-burning stoves, office equipment, cleaning products, and scented candles as sources of indoor air pollution.

Acer’s Air Monitor will hit stores in selected countries from April, 2017. There’s no word yet on pricing or precisely which markets it’ll land in, but we’ll be sure to update this article with the information as soon as we get a sniff of it.

This flamethrower drone is coming in really handy for a Chinese power company

Why it matters to you

As drone technology develops, we can only marvel — or in some cases feel a little concerned — at the myriad of uses industry is finding for such machines.

In the exciting world of remotely controlled multi-rotor flying machines – known popularly as “drones” – an increasing number of businesses are waking up to the idea that the technology could prove useful in their own line of work.

Already, movie production outfits big and small are making full use of camera-equipped drones, while other industries such as entertainment, agriculture, and real estate are also looking to incorporate the unmanned aerial vehicles into their operations.

Of course, regulatory hurdles still play a major part in the extent to which the technology can be used by commercial bodies, a matter that continues to present Amazon with huge challenges as it seeks to launch a drone-based delivery service.

In China, however, these hurdles appear to be about as high as your knee, certainly if this electric power maintenance company in Xiangyang is anything to go by.

In a usage that would have the Federal Aviation Administration breaking into a cold sweat if the proposal ever landed on its desk, the Chinese firm has attached a flamethrower to an octocopter to clear trash caught on power lines.

Yes, let’s say that again. It has attached a flamethrower to an octocopter to clear trash caught on power lines. Perhaps other solutions were deemed too, well … dangerous?

More: Watch this flamethrower take on a liquid nitrogen freeze gun

In a video demonstration (above), we can see the copter flying close to some trash caught on the power line before the attached incendiary device lets rip, reducing the debris to a puff of black smoke.

The pilot in the video looks confident enough handling the flamethrower drone, though there’s one brief moment where, as the machine returns to the ground, a colleague appears to scuttle nervously out of the way. Clearly, holding the controller of this thing would be a good time to bring up the issue of a pay raise with your boss.

Whether you think the trash-clearing flamethrower is an ingenious idea or rather foolhardy likely depends on your attitude to risk, but for the time being at least, this particular company seems perfectly happy with its new fire-spewing toy.

Facebook is putting ads in the middle of videos

Get ready to see a lot of ads in Facebook videos.

In a bid to increase revenues for publishers posting video on its platform, Facebook is introducing ads in the middle of on-demand content, while expanding availability of “mid-roll” ads for live videos. Facebook will start testing the new format with a select set of U.S. publishers who will earn 55% of the ad revenue, with the social network pocketing 45%.

According to Recode, ads can be inserted once an on-demand video crosses 20 seconds in runtime, and each ad break must be two minutes apart. Facebook has also announced that pages or profiles that have 2,000 followers or more — and those that have reached 300 or more concurrent viewers for a live video — will be eligible to roll out ad breaks:

• Pages or profiles in the U.S. can qualify to test ad breaks if they have 2,000 or more followers and have reached 300 or more concurrent viewers in a recent live video.
• You can take ad breaks during any live video reaching 300 or more concurrent viewers by tapping on the $ icon in the Live composer window.
• You can take your first ad break after having been live for at least 4 minutes. You can take additional ad breaks after a minimum of 5 minutes between each break.
• Each ad break lasts up to 20 seconds.

Facebook’s decision to split ad revenue with publishers will incentivize publishers to post more video on its platform. The social network announced last year that over 100 million hours of videos are watched every single day, and that number has likely skyrocketed after Facebook made it easier for everyone to broadcast live video.

What Facebook’s mid-roll ad breaks for videos look like… pic.twitter.com/ViZtF1xlvf

— Matt Navarra ⭐️ (@MattNavarra) February 19, 2017

What this means is that if you like to consume a lot of video on Facebook, you’ll have to sit through ads.