Don’t worry about water — the Splash Drone 3 is a UAV you can’t drown

Why it matters to you

This waterproof drone isn’t afraid to take a dip in the water, purposefully or otherwise.

We first wrote about the Splash Drone, a tough little waterproof quadcopter capable of landing on the water without being damaged, in 2015. Jump forward a couple of years, and the company responsible for it is back with its third unmanned aerial vehicle in the series — and, unlike most threequels, this one is looking better than ever.

“The major differences with the Splash Drone 3 are in the flight controller, the camera, and the propulsion system,” Alex Rodriguez, founder and CEO of Urban Drones, told Digital Trends. “This flight controller has redundant hardware that makes it safer in the air. If part of the system fails, the software detects the failure point and either changes to its internal backup and automatically returns to its take-off position. Secondly, the previous unit relied on the GoPro camera for video, but GoPro’s latest firmware update disabled the live video output from all their cameras. This will never be an issue with the Splash Drone because it now comes with its own stabilized 4K camera and a gimbal with stronger motors to work better under water. Finally, the new propulsion system has been completely redesigned. The motors are stronger, the propellers are now self-locking and the electronic speed controllers are tuned to this new configuration.”

Rodriguez said the improvements were the culmination of two years of extensive testing of different designs, as well as feedback from existing users.

For those who have only ever flown a regular airborne drone, the idea of one that can also navigate on water like a boat is pretty darn cool. The fact that it can see underwater using its brand-new 4K camera is just the high-tech icing on the cake.

While it certainly promises to be fun to mess around with, Rodriguez said there is a serious real-world application for it as well. “I think the most important use will come from search-and-rescue teams and boat owners,” he said. “Normally it takes several minutes to get a life vest to a swimmer in distress, but with the Splash Drone 3’s payload release system — that allows anyone to drop a life vest to a swimmer in distress for up to a kilometer — a lifeguard can deliver a flotation device in seconds. I can see a day where every lifeguard will be equipped with a Splash Drone.”

The Splash Drone 3 can currently be pre-ordered on Kickstarter, with prices starting at $1,149. Shipping is set to take place in August.

Robotics startup Cosy uses 3D depth tracking to navigate store aisles

Why it matters to you

Cosy tracks the location of objects in three-dimensional space — without the need for pricey, complex sensors.

Three-dimensional depth tracking is a complicated problem without an easy solution. Solutions like Microsoft’s Kinect, Google’s Tango platform, and Leap Motion’s peripheral can pick out walls and other obstacles with the help of custom sensor arrays, but they aren’t exactly plug-and-play — short of some duct tape and a lot of coding, getting them to talk to a robot, smartphone, or other device is an ordeal.

But Cosy, a startup founded by Penn State University graduate Jonas Cleveland, might have the solution — a software framework that combines neural networking and indoor positioning to pinpoint the location of robots, smartphones, and more in three-dimensional space.

And unlike most positional tracking technologies, which rely on infrared sensors to orient objects in rooms and hallways, Cosy’s platform works on any device with a camera. “It doesn’t matter the platform — it works on fixed cameras” Cleveland said. “A lot of folks claim you’re not able to achieve [3D mapping] without using lidar, but we’ve done it. It’s all post processing.”

The robot generates a “point cloud” as it runs through the store doing inventory.

It’s a little like Snapchat’s Lenses, which use computer vision and augmented reality to lay digital objects on top of real-world environments. Cleveland wouldn’t spill the beans on Cosy’s tech, some of which is patent-pending. But if it’s anything like Lenses, it takes into account factors like rotation, occlusion, and more in real time.

Cosy is applying it to retail — specifically inventory management. Robots that are four-and-a-half feet tall robots (“about the size of a fourth grader,” Cleveland said) equipped with the startup’s software navigate the store aisles autonomously, taking note of the products on shelves. They relay that data to a central server, which updates the store’s inventory database.

Cosy sees it lightening human workloads. “We’re empowering humans to do other things,” Cleveland said. “People are not very good at tedious and mundane tasks. Inventory is incredibly labor intensive, and very inaccurate — humans hate doing inventory. We’re checking stock and seeing where items are located in the store through software, without human assistance.”

It might not be long before you see a Cosy-powered ‘bot at your local department store. The startup is in talks with three of the top twenty U.S. retailers to deploy the inventory-checking robots in the next year. And in the future, Cosy hopes to adapt the tech to smartphones — Cleveland envisions an app that directs customers to a particular section of a store, for example, or even an exact shelf.

“When you can map indoor space and all the objects, that solves a lot of problems,” said Cleveland.

Want your own interstellar greeting card? Snag a replica of NASA’s Pioneer plaque

Why it matters to you

Want your very own piece of NASA history? Replicas of NASA’s Pioneer plaque available on Kickstarter.

Back in the early 1970s, when David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust was the hot album and The Godfather was playing for the first time in theaters, NASA launched its twin spacecraft, Pioneer 10 and 11. Among the items on board were two gold Pioneer plaques, which were designed by Frank Drake and Carl Sagan to serve as an “interstellar greeting card” for any extraterrestrial life they came across.

Now, 45 years after Pioneer 10’s launch, space-obsessed designer Duane King has taken to Kickstarter with replicas of the iconic plagues, which continue to represent the adventurous spirit of humankind at its best. In his own words, it’s “gold-anodized optimism.”

“I have been working with the original craftsman from 1972 to create a limited-edition, manually engraved exact replica of the plaque along with a laser-etched reissue to make the plaque available to everyone,” King told Digital Trends. “Through the campaign, I’m hoping to share a lifelong dream of mine with the world. There is nothing like holding in your hands an exact replica of a plaque that is floating in space — over 18 billion kilometers away from Earth.”

King said that the replicas are equal in every way to the originals, as well as the versions hanging a bit closer to home in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. The accuracy doesn’t end at the plaque, either. The original packaging has been just as carefully reproduced, from the paper engineering through to the foil-stamping.

A limited run of 200 manually-engraved replicas, priced at $399 each, have already sold out. However, a less-expensive laser-engraved edition, priced $99, is still available.

There have, it should be noted, been past examples of space-themed Kickstarter replicas that wound up disappointing customers. King is confident he can deliver.

“As for assurances, I can only say that I have a long history of successfully launching projects of all types,” he said. “I have little fear of fulfilling expectations. I have been running design studios and agencies for over 20 years. My experience ranges from launching Herman Miller’s first websites to concepting the first-ever tin video game package for id Software to introducing parallax to the web with Nike Better World. Turning dreams into reality is normal for me. And working on what is hard is what I do!”

Best Screen Protectors for Samsung Gear Fit 2

What’s the best screen protector for Gear Fit 2?

The Samsung Geart Fit 2 is a smart fitness tracker with a long display that can get scuffed and marked while you work out. If you’d like to keep your wearable’s screen blemish-free, pick up one of these screen protectors.

• RinoGear
• Spectre Shield
• Illumi AquaShield

RinoGear

RinoGear’s Shield screen protector for the Gear Fit 2 is as clear as they come, highly rated on Amazon, and so inexpensive that you can’t afford not to get one — it’s about $2 for an eight-pack.

This military-grade film is self-healing and flexible TPU, which will keep your Gear Fit 2’s screen scratch-free. If the screen protector starts to look a little worn, grab another from the eight-pack and easily install it using a convenient and simple wet-install method.

See at Amazon

Spectre Shield

Spectre Shield’s screen protector allows for full touch sensitivity and won’t cloud up your Gear Fit 2’s display. Spectre Shield promises that your wearable will feel like it’s wearing nothing at all, thanks to a natural-feeling, proprietary material.

Spectre Shield protectors are laser cut and install easily with the liquid application method, which allows you to adjust things during installation, making sure you get it perfectly lined up. An eight-pack is around $2.

See at Amazon

Illumi AquaShield

Illumi’s two-pack of Gear Fit 2 screen protectors comes with a lifetime warranty so that you can buy with confidence knowing your protector is backed up for good. This military-grade TPU features a UV-resistant layer to prevent yellowing over time, and once installed and dried, Illumi promises a glass-like finish that’s smooth, bubble-free, and frictionless.

See at Amazon

Your favorite?

Have you found another great Gear Fit 2 screen protector? Sound off in the comments below.

Watch: Android execs talk about the future of Android

Android’s Dave Burke, Stephanie Saad Cuthbertson, and Sameer Samat sat down for a chat on this week’s All About Android.

If you watch All About Android on on the TWiT network on Tuesday nights, you may have caught this week’s interview with three of Android’s top executives. The panel included Dave Burke, Vice President of Engineering for Android; Stephanie Saad Cuthbertson, Group Product Manager for Android; and Sameer Samat, Vice President of Product management for Android and Google Play.

The trio gave a recap of Google I/O 2017, as well as a bit more context about some of the new technologies and announcements made during the keynote. For instance, much of the improvements made to Android O this time around are focused on making the platform stable for both developers and users alike. Here’s how Cuthbertson explains it:

We really focused on three core things. First was the security program we talked about, Play Protect, which is a larger extent exposing many things we were doing already. In particular, the fact that we were scanning every app on every connected device to look for harmful apps.

The second changes: Instead of OS optimizations that are fairly comprehensive, boot time is one of the big ones we talked about and you’ll see that right away [in Android O].

We [also] made optimizations in the runtime and in the compilers. Apps will just run faster and more smoothly and that’s because of a whole maelstrom of changes we made, like concurrent compacting garbage collection. All those changes…mean those apps you have are automatically going to run faster.

One theme remained particularly resonant throughout the interview and that’s Google’s attempt at mending Android’s disjointed software update process. Before explaining how it plans to fix the process, however, Burke offered a colorful anecdote as to why it takes so long for software updates to get to you in the first place:

The right way to think about it is like a pipeline: We write all this code, and then we release it in open source and then the silicon vendors…take the Android code and then they do a lot of work on the code to optimize it for the silicone. The challenge today is that they actually end up changing not just low level code, but quite a lot of pieces of code. And then what happens is they hand that code to device makers, who then make more changes on top of it because they have a specific camera part they want to use, or a specific GPS or what not. Then it goes to carriers to test it, and then [emphasis added] it goes out to users.

Thus, he continues, came the idea for Project Treble. Burke describes it as an interface that will help make it easier for device manufacturers to drop in code relevant to their hardware, without interfering with Android’s existing APIs.

You can watch the interview in its entirety — about 40 minutes — to get the scoop, including how the idea of adding Kotin support in Android Studio came to be, and how Android Go will affect the current Android One program.

Disclosure: I am a co-host on the podcast, but I wanted to share a direct link for anyone who might not have been aware the segment aired.

Android Pay now lets you pay with a PayPal account

The latest software update adds PayPal integration so that you can tap and swipe with your account as if it were cold, hard cash.

A month after it was initially announced, Android Pay finally offers official support for PayPal integration. With the latest app update, you can now file in your PayPal account with the rest of your debit, credit, and loyalty cards to use wherever NFC-enabled wireless payments are accepted.

The setup process is easy. When you’re adding a new card to your virtual wallet inside the Android Pay app, tap Add other payment methods to select the PayPal option. Once it’s logged in there, you’ll be able to choose it as your payment method every time you fire up the app. PayPal will require that you input a “top up” amount, however, so be ready to put away about $10. You’ll need your in-store PIN to set up the payment method, too.

Why would you want to use PayPal to pay for things? Well, let’s say you run a business, for instance, and that’s where all of your earnings go before they make it into your bank account. If you have Android Pay with your PayPal account, you can use that cash flow instantly without waiting for the other-bank transaction.

PayPal is also useful if you’re traveling overseas with the family; it’s great for setting up a budget pool of sorts, and with Android Pay launching in more countries, you’ll be able to use that account on the fly. It’s unclear if that’s available at the moment, however, considering PayPal integration with Android Pay is currently limited to the U.S. If that applies to you, check out the Play Store to see if your app has been updated.

Game of Thrones season 7: When is it on, how can you watch it, and is there a full trailer yet?

Tired of being the only person who doesn’t know who Jon Snow is or what the heck “winter is coming” means?

No worries. Now’s the time to jump on the Game Of Thrones bandwagon. You have until this summer to catch up on the past six seasons, because HBO and Sky have just announced when season seven will premiere. The much-hyped return will surely be a hit, as fans have already been told they should only expect seven episodes in this series and six more in season 8 – the end is nigh.

Here’s everything you need to know about the premiere, including when, how, and where to watch it.

When does Game of Thrones season 7 start?

We finally have a date for the start of the seventh season of Game of Thrones. It will return to HBO on 16 July 2017 in the US, and it’ll be simulcast by Sky Atlantic in the UK on 17 July. As it is being broadcast at 9pm EST in the US, the most dedicated of UK fans will be able to watch the show at 2am BST that morning. Sky is also showing it at 9pm on Sky Atlantic later the same day.

Later episodes will be available in the same time slots (not simulcast) 

Where can you watch Game of Thrones season 7?

Considering each subsequent season of Game of Thrones has broken records for the amount of pirate downloads, it comes as no surprise that episodes in standard and HD (720p and 1080p) will no doubt be available and widely shared on torrent sites. However, if you refuse to head down the less salubrious stealy web route, you might wonder where else you can see the show.

Here we list several ways to do just that. And it’s all above board.

HBO, HBO Go and HBO Now

As HBO makes the show, it screens it in the US. That means it is available on all of the channel’s subscription services – the main HBO channel for TV viewers, through the HBO Go apps and platforms for existing HBO subscribers, or HBO Now for those who don’t pay for the main channel. The first episode will screen at 9pm EST on 16 July.

All of its on demand services will offer the show as catch-up content from that date. A HBO subscription is generally offered as a premium service through cable providers in the States, costing around $15 a month to add to an existing package. HBO Go is a free service for subscribers to the TV channel. HBO Now is for those who don’t have cable TV but still want access to the channel.

HBO Now also costs around $15 a month. There are HBO Now apps for a wide array of devices, including iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Android TV and Roku.

Sky+ and Sky Q

Sky exclusively screens HBO content in the UK, so has the rights to season 7, albeit with adverts. The US screening is ad-free. It will simulcast the show on Sky Atlantic with the first HBO screening, so fans can watch it at 2am on 17 July. As with the repeat showing, all following episodes will be screened in their normal time slot of 9pm on the channel the day after the US airing.

The show airs each Sunday on HBO so will appear on Sky Atlantic on Mondays. Sky+ and Sky Q subscribers will be able to watch them live, record them (with series link) or catch up with each episode on demand, as long as they have their set-top-box connected to the internet. It will be available on catch-up early on Monday 17 July. A Sky Q subscription, which includes Sky Atlantic, starts at £32 a month.

• Sky Q review: The future of multi-room television?
• What is Sky Q, how much does it cost and how can I get it?

Now TV

With a £6.99 a month Now TV Entertainment Pass, you can watch Sky Atlantic live alongside a range of other channels, Sky, and otherwise. That means you can watch the first episode when it airs. However, you can also watch it on demand on the service. And Now TV catch-up is devoid of adverts, save for a few dedicated stings, so you can jump into a mostly uninterrupted version.

Now TV can be viewed through a dedicated Now TV or Now TV Smart Box, Roku media streaming boxes or online through a browser. Apps are also available for iOS, Android, PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One, YouView and select LG Smart TVs. You can also use the Now TV app on a smartphone or tablet to play the show through a Google Chromecast.

• Now TV Smart Box review: Is live TV and Sky in one device worth the price?
• Now TV vs Now TV Smart Box vs Sky+HD vs Sky Q: Which Sky package is right for you?

One additional benefit to Now TV is: you can catch up with any of the previous series of Game of Thrones before plunging into season 7.

Sky Go and Sky Q apps

Sky Go offers the show on catch-up or live, but you do need a Sky subscription to access the app for iOS, select Android devices, PS4, PS3, Xbox One and Xbox 360. Or watch it online through a PC or Mac. You used to be able to subscribe to Sky Go from £15 a month without being an existing Sky customer, but no longer seems to be the case.

And, to be honest, at £6.99 a month, Now TV is a better option and is available on all the same devices and more.

Where Sky Go becomes a great option though is if you have a parent or friend with a Sky subscription and they have no interest in registering their free Sky Go accounts on mobile devices. You could ask if they would let you use one of the device slots instead (you can register up to two devices on one account). They might even let you take up a device slot for the duration season 7, and you can deregister it after.

Alternatively, if they subscribe to Sky Go Extra or you upgrade them to Sky Go Extra for £5 a month, you can take one of four device slots. One issue with this method is that the iPhone and iPad app won’t allow AirPlay mirroring or direct connection to get the pictures onto a TV. In this case, you really do get what you paid for. The new Sky Q app cannot be subscribed to separately. It is for Sky Q subscribers only.

• Which is the best movie streaming service in the UK? Netflix vs Amazon Prime vs Now TV and more

Is there a Game of Thrones season 7 trailer?

Yes. Here’s the first full season 7 trailer:

Microsoft Surface Pro event: What was launched and how to watch

Microsoft held a special event in Shanghai on Tuesday 23 May, which it used to announce three Surface devices.

Two of them had been previously revealed at other recent events, the Surface Laptop and Surface Studio, although it was revealed that they will be coming to China too. However, the new Surface Pro was unveiled for the first time globally. So here’s everything that was revealed at the #MicrosoftEvent in Shanghai and how you can catch up.

• Microsoft unveils the Surface Laptop, a Windows 10 S device looking to take down the MacBook

Microsoft

Microsoft Surface event in Shanghai: When was it?

Microsoft held its event in Shanghai on 23 May but didn’t livestream it (apart from a Chinese language version on a website there). However, you can read a timeline of what happened on its blog here.

Microsoft Surface event in Shanghai: Where can you watch?

You can re-watch Microsoft executives announce the Surface Pro here:

Microsoft Surface event in Shanghai: What was launched?

Apart from confirmation that the Surface Laptop and Surface Studio devices will be available from 15 June – in China too – the main product revealed at the event was an all-new Surface Pro. It has a 12.3-inch PixelSense screen and runs on a seventh-generation Intel processor. There is also a new Surface Pen, with a claimed 4,096 levels of pressure.

Upgraded, versatile, and exceptionally powerful, with iconic Surface design. Meet the new Microsoft #SurfacePro. #MicrosoftEvent pic.twitter.com/o1RQjzlySE

— Microsoft Surface (@surface) May 23, 2017

The biggest changes between the new Pro and existing Pro 4 is that the newer model is lighter, weighing just 0.77kg. It also has a bigger battery, with a claimed life of up to 13.5 hours between charges.

Microsoft

You can read more about the new Surface Pro here.

EU approves plans forcing Facebook and YouTube to act on hate speech

The European Union has just approved a proposal to implement Europe’s very first mandatory social media restrictions. In a bid to clamp down on hate speech across Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, the EU is proposing a law that allows them to block videos which incite hatred or promote terrorism. While these initial proposals were approved yesterday, the new regulations still need to get past the European Parliament before they become official legislation.

If the law gets passed, this would mark the first European law that actively intervenes in social media. Interestingly, these regulations would only apply to recorded videos, not live streamed content. Still, given the rampant rise of hate speech and the EU’s previous statements, its stance on the matter is fairly unsurprising. Yet for those who relish the autonomy afforded by the internet, the move could be seen by some as encroaching on people’s freedom of speech.

Interestingly, the same proposals that were approved in a bid to help protect EU citizens also have a clause about European representation on video streaming services. If passed, the new laws would demand that streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video hit a content quota, ensuring 30 percent of their video catalog consists of European films and TV shows. Even more surprisingly, the law would also mean that video streaming companies have to help fund the production of shows and movies in the EU countries they operate in. Given the whole Cannes Netflix debacle, we’re sure that France will be very keen to get this law passed.

When it comes to social media regulation, however, many of the big names have already made promises to help clean up their platforms. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft have already agreed to review and remove content flagged as hateful within 24 hours, but according to the EU and the UK, all the companies have failed to deliver.

With Germany also imposing aggressive fines on companies that fail to remove hate speech, it seems likely that the European Union will pass the legislation. While an exact date for the discussions has yet to be set, a statement from the European Commission states that the issue will be raised “in the coming weeks”.

Source: European Commission

FCC stonewalls demands for evidence of cyberattack

The FCC swears that a denial of service attack hit its servers hours after Last Week Tonight’s John Oliver rallied support for net neutrality, but where’s the evidence? Well, don’t expect it any time soon. In an interview with ZDNet, the regulator’s David Bray says the FCC won’t release the logs that might show who was responsible for the incident. The logs contain private info like IP addresses, he says. Bray does note that there wasn’t a botnet involved, though — instead, the traffic came from commercial cloud services using the FCC’s public programming interface. But if it wasn’t a botnet, then who was involved? Some critics are concerned that the FCC isn’t exactly being forthright.

The advocacy group Fight for the Future tells ZDNet that the FCC should disclose information “to the appropriate authorities and to journalists” to have them investigate the data while maintaining privacy. And if there’s an organization behind the attack, the group says, the FCC should divulge who it is. That it isn’t is worrying — does the Commission not know, or is it trying to hide the origins? Fight for the Future is concerned that the traffic is either from net neutrality supporters (and thus evidence that the FCC couldn’t/wouldn’t handle opposition to its net neutrality rollback) or opponents trying to stifle criticism.

And unfortunately, there’s circumstantial evidence that might support either theory. Anti-net neutrality bots recently flooded the FCC’s comments, and Chairman Ajit Pai even suggested that he might honor these obviously fake statements. It doesn’t help that the FCC has since gone into a “sunshine period” where it won’t take new public comments on decisions. And it’s no secret that telecoms are less than fond of net neutrality proponents, especially when they try to expose astroturfing campaigns. Simply put, both the current FCC and internet providers have a vested interest in downplaying net neutrality’s supporters while enshrining its critics.

The FCC says it has since upgraded its website to better handle loads, so it isn’t completely unresponsive. Without more disclosures about what happened around the attack, though, it’s impossible to know just how honest it really is — and it’s not helping its case by being unresponsive to public outcries.

Via: Gizmodo

Source: ZDNet (1), (2)