Watch this damage-proof drone crumple and reform after a crash

Why it matters to you

Some of the features could one day work their way into consumer drones to make them more durable and less likely to break upon impact.

Whether you’re a newbie drone pilot or a more experienced operator with hours of flying experience under your belt, there’s always a risk that your precious copter might tumble out of the sky following an unwise maneuver, or even because of mechanical failure. There’s also the chance of an unexpected bird attack, or someone deliberately targeting it with a projectile like this guy from medieval times.

If your machine does ever happen to come crashing to the ground, chances are you’ll be taking it home in several shattered pieces, your drone-flying days put on hold until you sort out the unfortunate mess.

Interested in designing a more durable drone that’s free of a bulky cage or other protective structures that we’ve seen before, researchers from Floreano Lab, NCCR Robotics, and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) recently turned to the insect world for inspiration.

Having noted the flexibility and durability of insect wings — and how the flying bugs never seem to be particularly put out if they slam headfirst into an obstacle such as a window — the team wondered if it could apply such characteristics to drone design.

It came up with an intriguing solution comprising a quadcopter with a thin fiberglass external frame and arms held together by a central magnet.

The all-important frame is only 0.3 mm thick but extremely soft and flexible, making it able to withstand knocks and more serious crashes without breaking into little bits.

The team says the magnet is designed and positioned in such a way as to keep the copter rigid and stable while in flight. But when a collision occurs, the magnetic connections automatically give way and cause the drone to temporarily deform so it can absorb the shock of the crash landing while protecting the machine’s vital components.

Once the drone comes to rest, elastic bands that keep the magnet in place force the frame to reform, allowing the operator to once again send the machine skyward.

More: Avian-inspired drone alters its feathered wings to boost speed, maneuverability

Drone makers may draw on the team’s innovative design for inspiration on how to create damage-proof machines, a characteristic that would provide a useful back-up for when obstacle-avoidance technology, which is improving all the time, fails to prevent a catastrophic collision.

Here’s an iPhone case that’s so pricey you might want to get a case for it

Why it matters to you

It’s always interesting to see how the big-name brands try to cash in on the lucrative iPhone market.

When Digital Trends recently picked out the best cases for the iPhone 7, most of the choices cost around $20 to $35. That certainly seems reasonable for something that should look and feel good while at the same time protecting your handset from nasty knocks and scrapes.

Of course, if you have the cash to splash and you like the idea of wrapping your iPhone in something that costs many times more than the handset itself, then Louis Vuitton is ready to help you lighten your wallet.

The fashion house this week unveiled four new “Eye-Trunk” cases for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, designed in tribute to Louis Vuitton’s origins as a maker of travel luggage and not because of some past connection with elephants, just to be absolutely clear.

The most expensive of the four offerings is the $5,500 “golden crocodile leather” design. At that price, you might want to buy a special case to keep it in.

If you like the look of the croc case but are too sensible to fork out thousands of dollars on such an item, then the more reasonably priced Monogram design may appeal. That’ll set you back a mere $1,250. There’s also the Monogram Reverse and Monogram Eclipse cases with the same price tags.

Louis Vuitton’s product page for its absurdly expensive iPhone 7 cases describes them as “the ultimate fashionable accessory of the season,” which therefore make them “more than a protective cover.”

More: Brikk is taking orders for a $1.3-million diamond-encrusted iPhone 7

Of course, with Apple expected to unveil the iPhone 8 in six months’ time, the case will be useless by the end of the year should moneyed fashionistas upgrade to the new phone, as they surely will.

The new cases can be viewed on Louis Vuitton’s website though should you want one, you’ll need to “call to purchase.”

The OnePlus 3T is now up for sale directly from OnePlus in India

Pick up the OnePlus 3T and get a case for free.

After two years of exclusively offering its phones on Amazon India, OnePlus is now selling the OnePlus 3T on its own store. To incentivize the launch, OnePlus is giving away a free case with all orders.

For the first time, you can purchase the coveted #OnePlus3T directly from https://t.co/BX7B441lMV & pick your favorite protective case. Free pic.twitter.com/3MgbdHzdjd

— OnePlus India (@OnePlus_IN) March 10, 2017

OnePlus is also kicking off a contest featuring the new face of the brand, Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan. You’ll have to perform weekly tasks to accumulate points, which in turn will make you eligible to win a cash prize of 1 crore ($150,000).

As for the phone itself, OnePlus is selling both the 64GB and 128GB editions of the OnePlus 3T, although if you want the Soft Gold color option, you’ll have to settle for the 64GB variant.

See at OnePlus

OnePlus 3T and OnePlus 3

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Google Assistant could soon pick up support for French Canadian

Google Assistant is learning a new language.

Back when Google unveiled its AI-powered Assistant last year, the company said that it would roll out support for regional languages. Assistant picked up the ability to converse in Hindi, and Google is now training the voice assistant to understand French Canadian.

Based on the screenshot, Google is working on making the French Canadian language model of Assistant available both on Allo and phones. That’s in contrast to Assistant’s capabilities in Hindi, which are limited to Google’s messaging app. Google’s decision to roll out Assistant to all phones running Marshmallow and above will ensure that its AI service is installed on hundreds of millions of handsets around the world, and the logical extension of that is to introduce support for local languages.

There’s no further information as to when Assistant will officially add support for French Canadian, but with the test program underway, we should know more in the coming months.

Thanks Guillaum Gibault!

Amazon.com now sells you stuff in Spanish

You can now browse Amazon’s main website and mobile app in Spanish — and, yes, we mean Amazon.com, not its .es counterpart. The e-commerce company has even added an easily accessible language settings option on the website’s interface, right next to the “Accounts & Lists” drop-down menu. As CNET noted, Amazon is most likely looking to attract more Spanish-speaking shoppers, especially since the US now has 41 million native speakers and 11 million bilingual residents. It even recently expanded Prime to cover Mexico, offering the same free unlimited shopping and streaming videos customers get in the US.

A spokesperson told the publication:

“Customers will be able to shop, browse and search for millions of products, view their shopping cart, and place orders in Spanish on Amazon.com and through the Amazon Mobile Shopping app.”

If you don’t see the option yet, you’ll get it soon enough. Amazon will continue rolling out the feature to more accounts over the next few weeks until everyone can access the new language option.

Source: CNET

BT is finally splitting Openreach into a separate company

It’s been a long time coming, but BT has finally agreed to spin off Openreach, the part of its business that handles most of the UK’s broadband infrastructure. Ofcom, the UK’s media regulator, proposed such a split last July, in a move it believes will improve competition and investment. At the time, BT offered a handful of counterproposals — its preference, of course, was to keep Openreach under its control — but now the company has relented and accepted Ofcom’s demands. (We suspect the threat of a tussle with the European Commission forced its hand.)

The new, “legally separate company” will still be a part of the BT Group, but will have its own “staff, management, purpose and strategy.” A new Openreach board has already been established; it will run the new company once the transition is completed later this year. Most importantly, the majority of the board’s directors aren’t from BT — diluting the company’s influence, and any potential criticisms that it’s still playing favorites. The board will also choose the next Openreach CEO, who will hire other executives and shape the company’s culture. BT will have the power to veto CEO appointments, but only after notifying Ofcom.

As part of the agreement, Openreach will need to formally consult with Sky, TalkTalk and Vodafone on future “large-scale” investments. The BT logo will also be removed from all Openreach branding, so the public is aware of the change.

As you might expect, BT is now playing the decision off as a victory. “I believe this agreement will serve the long-term interests of millions of households, businesses and service providers that rely on our infrastructure,” Gavin Patterson, BT’s chief executive said. “It will also end a period of uncertainty for our people and support further investment in the UK’s digital infrastructure.”

There was, however, just a hint of BT’s displeasure. “This has been a long and challenging review where we have been balancing a number of competing interests,” he added. “We have listened to criticism of our business and as a result we are willing to make fundamental changes to the way Openreach will work in the future.”

BT’s rivals are, unsurprisingly, delighted with the split. TalkTalk chief executive Dido Harding said: “The new company will be better placed to deliver the improved investment and service that consumers and businesses deserve. This deal will require robust Ofcom monitoring and enforcement to ensure it delivers the improvements the regulator expects. We hope this is the start of a new deal for Britain’s broadband customers, who will be keen to see a clear timetable from Openreach setting out when their services will improve.”

A spokesperson for Sky added: “This is a welcome step that we have long called for on behalf of our customers. A more independent Openreach is a step towards delivering better service to customers and the investment that the UK needs. It’s important that today’s agreement is now implemented by BT in good faith and without delay.”

Source: BT, Openreach

Google’s new reRECAPTCHA automatically tells you’re not a bot

Over the years, Google has utilised a number of methods to distinguish between human and bots on the web. Its take on the CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) test, known as reCAPTCHA, has required you to transcribe distorted words, confirm Street View addresses or simply just tick a box. Soon, you won’t need to do the hard work, because Google’s making the system invisible.

Using a combination of machine learning and advanced risk analysis, Google has updated its system to detect user habits without dedicated interaction. When you arrive on a web page, the controls should disappear and serve the relevant content. However, if you do trip Google’s risk analysis algorithms, you may need to quickly solve one of the search giant’s puzzles.

While the new system is invisible, it will still consider variables like your IP address and the movements of your mouse. Google says its technology will “actively consider a user’s engagement with the CAPTCHA — before, during, and after — to determine whether that user is a human.” That means no more transcription, which offered a human balance to Google’s optical character recognition, but you may now find what you were looking for a lot quicker.

Via: Ars Technica

Source: Google reCaptcha

Apple’s Swift Programming Language Surging in Popularity

The rapidly increasing take-up of Apple’s Swift programming language was confirmed again yesterday with the publication of a survey that ranks the popularity of programming languages.

In the latest TIOBE Index, Swift was ranked 10th, up four places from March 2016. As CultofMac notes, the nine programming languages ranked above it are at least two decades old, so breaking into the top 10 is a feat more impressive than it sounds. Swift was only introduced by Apple in 2014, replacing Objective-C as an easier-to-learn language.

Apple has promoted Swift as ideal for kids who are keen to code, with its gentle learning curve demonstrated in Swift Playgrounds, an app that teaches children how to use the language. Apple has been updating and refining Swift since its debut, and is set to unveil Swift 3.1 this spring.

The TIOBE Index is calculated using search engine data to approximate the popularity of programming languages within online coding communities. Earlier this year, a quarterly study revealed that Swift had become one of the most sought-after freelance developer skills among employers.

Tag: Swift
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LG starts promoting the G6 in Australia ahead of Mar. 28 launch

Australia will be the first market outside Korea to receive the LG G6.

LG announced last week that it would launch the LG G6 in Australia on March 28, and the manufacturer is now hyping up the handset ahead of its debut in the country. Telstra will be the exclusive carrier partner for the phone, but as of now there’s no mention of pricing.

With the LG G6, not all regions will get the same features. For instance, U.S. models feature wireless charging but come with 32GB internal storage, whereas units sold in Asia include a 32-bit Quad DAC and 64GB storage. With the Australian SKU not differing all that much from the Korean variant of the device — which is currently up for pre-order for the equivalent of $780 — it’s likely LG decided to move up the launch window of the phone in Australia.

We should know more about the G6’s pricing and availability in Australia — and other markets — in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

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Unlocked Moto Z Play is now picking up the Nougat update

Android 7.0 Nougat is hitting unlocked units of the Moto Z Play.

The Nougat update started hitting the Verizon edition of the Moto Z Play earlier this week, and now the unlocked models are also receiving the update. The update switches the firmware version to NPN25.137-24-1, which is similar to that of Verizon’s NPN25.137-24-1-2.

Android 7.0 Nougat introduces a slew of new features, including multi-window multitasking, direct replies in the notification shade, a new Data Saver utility, customizable quick settings, and an improved Doze battery saver mode. If you’re using an unlocked Moto Z Play, head into your phone’s settings to see if an update is waiting for your phone.

Moto Z, Moto Z Force and Moto Z Play

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Thanks Colby Birrell!