Drones: Canada imposes strict new rules following a jump in dangerous incidents

Why it matters to you

Drone rules aren’t universal so if you’re heading north of the border with your UAV, or anywhere else for that matter, be sure to check out the local rules for flight.

Drone fans north of the border have been hit with tough new rules restricting how and where they can use their flying toys.

Announced on Thursday by Canadian transport minister Marc Garneau, the new regulations place strict limitations on drone flights close to people, animals, and buildings.

The rules, aimed specifically at non-commercial drone flights, also stipulate that the machines should be kept well clear of airports.

“I am taking measures now, before a drone hits an airplane and causes a catastrophic accident,” Garneau told the Globe and Mail, adding, “That’s the kind of nightmare scenario that keeps me up at night.”

Folks with an unmanned aerial vehicle weighing more than 0.5 pounds (250 grams) and up to 77 pounds (35 kg) are now banned from operating the machine within 5.6 miles (9 km) of any airport as well as other places where aircraft operate such as heliports or seaplane bases.

Drones must stay within 295 feet (90 meters) of the ground, and keep at least 246 feet (75 meters) from buildings. Flights near forest fires and first-responder emergency locations are also prohibited under the new rules.

Canada already had a set of regulations in place aimed at drone users, but in most cases violators had no fear of punishment.

However, from this week, anyone breaking the rules could face fines of up to CAD$3,000 (about $2,250), around $800 more than the maximum fine for comparable offenses in the U.S., according to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) documents.

More: For recreational drone users in the U.S., here’s what you need to know

Canadian officials have become increasingly worried about rogue drone flights, with reported incidents near airports leaping from 41 three years ago to 148 last year.

Garneau told the Globe and Mail the government needed to do “everything in our power to stop this from happening.”

However, aware that the drone market is rapidly developing with many tech companies researching new technologies, the minister was keen to reassure the industry that the government would continue to encourage innovation in the sector, adding, “But like any new technology, drones must be used with care. And we cannot wait until something bad happens before we act.”

The increasing popularity of consumer drones has left many governments around the world scrabbling to create new rules to encourage safe and responsible flying. In the U.S., the FAA has a Fly for Fun webpage explaining its own guidelines for recreational users, which include flying at or below 400 feet (122 meters), keeping the machine in sight at all times, staying well away from airports, and keeping clear of people. You can find out more here.

The Heatbuff means no more cold hands at the keyboard

There’s nothing worse than cold hands when you’re trying to type or play a game on the computer. The rest of your body may be feeling snug, but your exposed hands just don’t seem to want to warm up, causing your all-important keyboard performance to suffer.

Keen to devise a solution, Emil Frolund and Mads Sorensen — two students studying innovation and entrepreneurship in Denmark — created the Heatbuff heater that gently warms your hands without melting your keyboard. Which is kind of important.

The Kickstarter project has already received pledges worth more than double that of its $11,000 funding target, meaning early backers could be warming their digits in front of the heater this coming winter, when the first shipments are scheduled to go out.

As you can see from the images above, the Heatbuff, which requires a nearby power outlet, sits at the top of your keyboard and uses harmless infrared no-burn technology to gently heat up your hands. The device also lets you angle each of the two heaters, allowing you to point one of them toward your mouse if you happen to use it a lot during your PC sessions.

More: Are you a sweaty gamer? These special clothes will cure your clammy hands

Heatbuff’s creators, both keen gamers, said the idea for the device came to them last year when they realized that cold hands affected their skill level, with reaction times slower than usual.

“We started researching online and were blown away by the massive amounts of people who complained about this … and no one seemed to have a solution that people were fully happy with,” the pair said.

While developing the Heatbuff, Emil and Mads soon realized that the device could also come in useful for office and home-based workers, as well as those with conditions such as arthritis.

With three weeks to go, there’s still plenty of time to support the project. You can get yourself a Heatbuff with a pledge of about $70, offering a decent 28 percent saving on the final retail price. You can check out all the various deals on the project’s Kickstarter page here.

The Heatbuff means no more cold hands at the keyboard

There’s nothing worse than cold hands when you’re trying to type or play a game on the computer. The rest of your body may be feeling snug, but your exposed hands just don’t seem to want to warm up, causing your all-important keyboard performance to suffer.

Keen to devise a solution, Emil Frolund and Mads Sorensen — two students studying innovation and entrepreneurship in Denmark — created the Heatbuff heater that gently warms your hands without melting your keyboard. Which is kind of important.

The Kickstarter project has already received pledges worth more than double that of its $11,000 funding target, meaning early backers could be warming their digits in front of the heater this coming winter, when the first shipments are scheduled to go out.

As you can see from the images above, the Heatbuff, which requires a nearby power outlet, sits at the top of your keyboard and uses harmless infrared no-burn technology to gently heat up your hands. The device also lets you angle each of the two heaters, allowing you to point one of them toward your mouse if you happen to use it a lot during your PC sessions.

More: Are you a sweaty gamer? These special clothes will cure your clammy hands

Heatbuff’s creators, both keen gamers, said the idea for the device came to them last year when they realized that cold hands affected their skill level, with reaction times slower than usual.

“We started researching online and were blown away by the massive amounts of people who complained about this … and no one seemed to have a solution that people were fully happy with,” the pair said.

While developing the Heatbuff, Emil and Mads soon realized that the device could also come in useful for office and home-based workers, as well as those with conditions such as arthritis.

With three weeks to go, there’s still plenty of time to support the project. You can get yourself a Heatbuff with a pledge of about $70, offering a decent 28 percent saving on the final retail price. You can check out all the various deals on the project’s Kickstarter page here.

LG G6 now available to pre-order in the U.S.

Verizon, AT&T and Sprint kick off pre-orders for LG’s latest ahead of April 7 street date.

Our favorite phone of 2017 so far is now up for pre-order on American shores. Today three of the big four carriers have started taking orders for the LG G6, meaning you can secure yours in time for the April 7 release date. All three are offering a free Google Home, courtesy of LG, if you order your G6 before April 30.

Verizon is offering the G6 for $28 per month with $0 down, or $672 if you’re paying the full retail price, in black and platinum colors. Pre-orders are set to ship by March 30.

See at Verizon

AT&T has the same two colors available for $24 per month, or $719.99 outright, with pre-orders due to ship between April 4 and 6. Get your G6 on a two-year AT&T Next deal and the carrier will hook you up with an LG Watch Sport for $49.99. (That’s in addition to LG’s separate promotion for a free Google Home.)

See at AT&T

Over on Sprint, it’s $29.50 monthly on a 24-month plan, or $299.99 with a 24-month contract. Full retail price is $708, and Sprint is throwing in a free 49-inch LG TV to sweeten the deal — again, on top of that free Google Home.

See at Sprint

T-Mobile isn’t taking G6 pre-orders just yet, but plans to kick off sales on April 7 along with its competitors. T-Mo’s G6 will set you back $650 outright, or 24 payments of $26 after $26 down, with the same free Google Home promotion if you buy before April 30.

See at T-Mobile

Meanwhile B&H Photo has the U.S. unlocked G6 (LG-US997) listed, but without a price or release date.

Picking up a G6 today? Hit the comments and let us know!

LG G6

• LG G6 review!
• LG G6 specs
• LG G6 vs. Google Pixel: The two best cameras right now
• Everything you need to know about the G6’s cameras
• LG forums

Verizon
Sprint
T-Mobile
AT&T
B&H

Watch our Huawei P10 + P10 Plus video review!

Huawei is big in China, and growing the West. In the past twelve months, it’s gone from being that one company that made great hardware but could never seem to get the software right, to being able to legitimately compete with more established brands in Europe.

So in 2017, the new P10 phones are tasked with building on that momentum, while also competing with what’s to come from Samsung and Apple. In our video review of the 5.1-inch Huawei P10 and its 5.5-inch sibling the P10 Plus, we’ll see how Huawei has created two of its best phones yet, with superb build quality, an eye-catching “dazzling” finish and a competitive camera. But is it all undone by one fairly major hardware oversight?

Hit the video above for our comprehensive take on the Huawei P10 and P10 Plus!

• Android Central on YouTube
• Huawei P10 + P10 Plus review
• Huawei Mate 9 review
• Huawei P10 vs P10 Plus camera

Future Sony smartphones could charge wirelessly from a friend’s phone, a fridge or a washing machine

Sony has submitted a patent application for a technology that could revolutionise the mobile industry.

It proposes adding a second wireless antenna for Near Field Communications (NFC) that will transfer power rather than data. You could therefore recharge your phone from a friend’s device, a refrigerator, washing machine or anything else that has an NFC power transmitter.

And it will be truly contactless, you wouldn’t need to place your device on the power source.

The only restriction is that the device you are charging from must be connected to the mains. So you could only leach power from a friend’s handset when he or she is charging it through a wired connection.

• Future batteries, coming soon: Charge in seconds, last months and power over the air
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium preview: The complete Xperia package

It is suggested that power sources would show up much like Wi-Fi hotspots, for you to choose which to take charge from.

The patent application was filed in November last year but came to light when it was posted by the US Patent and Trademark Office at the beginning of March. It is worth remembering that technology firms file many patents every year and only a handful ever make it to fruition and appear in a product.

This is one, however, that we would thoroughly encourage as it could mean you’d never run out of battery on your phone again.

The ‘Candy Crush’ TV show debuts on CBS July 9th

For whatever reason, Candy Crush is making the jump from addictive game to primetime TV game show, and CBS has revealed it will premiere July 9th. Unfortunately (or fortunately) it’s a little too late to get cast as one of the two-person teams that will play the game. You and a partner are missing out on the opportunity to “use their wits and physical agility to compete on enormous, interactive game boards featuring next generation technology to conquer Candy Crush and be crowned the champions.” That’s the kind of action that will be available to you on Sunday nights this summer — choose wisely, and remember Game of Thrones doesn’t come back until July 16th.

#CBS Announces Summer premiere dates @CBSBigBrother 6/28 @ZooCBS 6/29 #CandyCrush Premiere7/9 #Salvation Debuts7/12 https://t.co/AolOlSiAzq pic.twitter.com/OFVYsw4w58

— CBS Tweet (@CBSTweet) March 16, 2017

Source: CBS

WSJ: Nintendo is selling way more Switches than it expected

We already knew that the Switch was Nintendo’s fastest-selling console ever, but we now have an idea as to how many units it’s pushing out. The WSJ says Nintendo plans to double production from 8 million units to 16 million for its 2017 fiscal year (starting in April) in order to keep up with higher-than-expected sales.

Before it started shipping, analysts figured Nintendo would sell just 5 million units in its first year, due to the relatively high $300 price tag and lack of a free game with the console. However, strong early reviews and the widely-praised Zelda: Breath of the Wild launch title pushed sales to 1.5 million in the first week alone, and Nintendo could ship as many as 2.5 million units in the first month, the WSJ says.

It’s still pretty early to gauge demand for an entire year, obviously, and week two sales reportedly slowed dramatically in Japan after Nintendo shipped 329,152 Switches in the first seven days. However, that can likely be chalked up to supply problems, as the console is sold out almost everywhere around the world at the moment.

If the WSJ report is accurate (and that’s a big “if,” as it’s based on anonymous supply chain sources), then that bodes well for sales later in the year and beyond. High enough numbers will motivate third-party developers to build games for the console in addition to (or instead of) other platforms like the PS4 and Xbox One. That in turn will drive further demand, ensuring that Switch sales remain strong after the early fervor dies down. After all, the Wii U sold around 3 million units in its first 6 weeks, but went on to sell just 13.5 million units total.

Source: WSJ

The Morning After: Friday, March 17 2017

It’s the end of the week and we have talked to Buzz Aldrin about VR and Mars, tried to fund a documentary about what happened to the Tony Hawk game series, all while attempting to ignore Google Home’s Beauty and the Beast ads. Ignoring ads from an internet company? It’s a tale as old as time.

The second man to set foot on the moon thinks colonizing Mars is humanity’s destiny.

Buzz Aldrin turns to VR to explain how we can get to the red planet

Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 astronaut, may now be 87, but he’s keeping his mind focused on the next space frontier. For decades now, he’s thought about how to get astronauts to Mars, becoming more vocal about his plans in recent years. He’s also a fan of virtual reality as a medium to communicate his vision: He partnered with NASA to build a Mars Hololens experience last year, and now he’s hosting a 10-minute VR experience that walks you through his vision of how to get to Mars.

Now it’s up to CongressTrump’s budget proposal means big cuts for NASA, climate change programs

The president’s proposed 2018 budget has been revealed. As expected, it not only pulls money away from many arts and social services programs, but it also contains plans to cut funding for a number of scientific endeavors. The EPA budget would drop by 31 percent, eliminating international climate change initiatives and grants that help local governments fight pollution. NASA would also lose four climate change initiatives, its Office of Education and the planned Asteroid Redirect Mission.

The wonderful world of drone tanks

A Russian military contractor is building a 20-ton unmanned combat vehicle

A Russian weapons company named after the inventor of the AK-47 has revealed that it’s building a new type of unmanned combat vehicle. The company states that its upcoming drone tank will carry both machine guns and anti-tank missiles. While it has yet to release a prototype, we have a vague idea of what to expect from the company’s previous work: the BAS-01G Soratnik. Weighing a fraction of the proposed new tank at just seven tons, the Soratnik is a machine gun mounted infantry support vehicle equipped with anti-tank missiles. With a top speed of 25 miles per hour, the mini-tank can be operated from a range of up to six miles and is even able to carry out certain tasks autonomously.

Add warmth to your digital instruments.
Elektron’s Analog Heat upgrades your synth and drum machine

The proliferation of digitally-modelled analog synths has lowered the barrier for cash-strapped, musicians hoping to become the next big synth group like S U R V I V E (the band responsible for the Stranger Things theme). Cheaper synths and drum machines are great, but because they don’t decay like analog instruments, they also lend themselves to everyone sounding the same. For anyone looking to add more warmth and variety to her sound, Elektron’s $750 Heat comes equipped with eight analog distortion circuits that can be tweaked to your liking.

$75k to make ‘Pretending I’m a Superman: The Tony Hawk Game Story’
Crowdfunded documentary will dig into the ‘Tony Hawk’ series

The Tony Hawk game series is responsible for bringing skateboarding to an entire generation of gamers, but what was it like behind the scenes? Now, a former producer is crowdfunding a documentary exploring the ups and downs of the series, from start to finish. There are different contribution levels, but for $7k you can go all the way and secure an exclusive session with Tony Hawk himself.

A physicist and film expert are working to restore the decades-old films.
Watch these declassified nuclear test films on YouTube

There’s something both beautiful and unnerving about a mushroom cloud. The United States conducted around 216 atmospheric nuclear tests between 1945 and 1992, many taking place in Nevada and the Pacific Proving Grounds. Now, rare videos of those detonations are declassified and available to the public for the first time.

Hush.

Google Home is playing ads for ‘Beauty and The Beast’

Whether you care about the live-action remake or not, Google Home will tell you all about it. Recently, the smart speaker’s users have noticed that the disembodied Assistant will give you a rundown of the upcoming, live action Beauty and the Beast when you ask for a summary of your day’s events. It seems widespread beyond the folks who pointed it out on Reddit and appears regardless of if you’ve shown interest in the movie.

“Alexa, where the hell are my AirPods?”
Amazon’s Alexa sets up home in your iPhone

Now you can talk to Amazon’s intelligent assistant whenever you use the Amazon app on your iPhone. Alexa will be able to do much more than just deal with your Amazon account, like play songs from Amazon Music, give you news updates, or even tell a (bad) joke or two. According to Amazon, the one thing you won’t be able to do just yet is to ask Alexa to open your door locks with your voice.

But wait, there’s more…

• A Twitter user is suing James Woods for misidentifying her as a Nazi
• Google’s new algorithm shrinks JPEG files by 35 percent
• SXSW: Ron Howard on his Einstein show and digital filmmaking
• SXSW: Intel wants to be a tech ‘enabler’ for the fashion industry

Apple to Build Two Additional R&D Centers in China

Apple announced today that it will set up two additional research and development centers in China, to go with the two locations in the country that it announced last year. The new R&D centers will open in Shanghai and Suzhou, the company said in a statement on its Chinese website on Friday.

Apple hopes the centers will help it to attract graduates from institutes such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Shanghai Jiaotong University, and has partnered with schools in the region to offer internship programs, in the hope of developing experts to work closely with its regional supply chain.

Shanghai, China

“We are looking forward to working with more local partners and academic institutions through the expansion of R&D centers in China,” said Dan Riccio, senior vice president of hardware engineering at Apple. “We are honored to have access to excellent talent and a positive entrepreneurial spirit in the region, where our developers and suppliers will be working together.

Apple’s attempt to boost its presence in the country began last September with the opening of its first R&D center in Beijing’s Zhongguancun Science Park, often referred to as “China’s Silicon Valley”. Another R&D center, this time in Shenzhen, was announced the following month.

Apple has pledged to invest more than 3.5 billion yuan ($508 million) in research and development in the country, in a bid to address dwindling returns on its Chinese iPhone business as consumers opt for low-cost mobile alternatives. Apple has also experienced pushback in other areas of its China plans, including the closure of iTunes and iBooks Stores.

Apple is expected to have completed construction of all its research and development centers in Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Suzhou later this year.

Tag: China
Discuss this article in our forums