Watch: Quadcopter crash causes nasty bicycle race tumble
Why it matters to you
It’s a powerful reminder of how drones, if flown without proper care, can cause serious havoc.
Last year we watched slack-jawed as a large, remotely-controlled hexacopter operated by a TV broadcast crew came crashing down just meters from a professional skier during an event in Italy.
This week, a pro cyclist was less fortunate when a drone crashed just in front of him during a race. The main body of the machine jammed his front wheel, which consequently sent him flying over the handlebars.
The terrifying accident took place during this month’s Golden State Race series in Sacramento, California, and was caught on camera by another rider’s helmet cam.
The unlucky competitor, who’s yet to be identified by name, “suffered no broken bones, only ending up with a broken wheel, helmet and some road rash,” according to Cycling Weekly.
Look at the video closely and you’ll see the quadcopter — likely a consumer drone such as a DJI Phantom machine rather than something like the heavier hexacopter that crashed at the ski event — collide with a tree before hitting the ground and smashing into pieces.
With the machine shattering across the road, it seems like most of it is behind the rider when suddenly his front wheel locks, sending him tumbling over the top. At any speed, a fall like that can produce serious injuries, but this racer, although slowing, was still moving at a steady clip and therefore extremely lucky to escape with what must have been a seriously bruised body. Thankfully, it didn’t produce a massive pile-up involving the other riders, either.
It’s not clear at this stage if the cyclist or authorities intend to take any action against the drone operator, but the nasty accident is a powerful reminder of the need to take proper care when flying a drone. The owner may simply have been hoping to get some cool aerial shots of the cycling race, but a single clumsy maneuver and one large tree put paid to that, and while the consequences were pretty darn bad for the rider, they could’ve been a whole lot worse.
Microsoft HomeHub for Windows 10 wants to be your smart home control centre
Microsoft appears to be planning its own rival to the likes of Amazon Echo and Apple HomeKit, in the form of HomeHub. The smart home control feature, or at least the first stages of it, will become part of Windows 10, possibly in the next update due in September.
- Microsoft will show the world “what’s next” on 23 May, but what is next?
HomeHub is being designed and developed to become the central control hub for families, and will give shared access to apps, calendars and will provide a new welcome screen. HomeHub will also support third-party smart home products such as Philips Hue lights, which will be controllable directly from a Windows 10 PC.
The Verge has obtained concept images showing how HomeHub will work, and there appears to be a new welcome screen that has an “always on” digital corkboard that displays all the day’s tasks, meetings and events in a calendar for the whole family.
The Verge
Of course, being a Microsoft system, you will be able to control everything with your voice via Cortana. You will be able to make and receive calls, control smart home products, and carry out internet searches, all by using your voice through a Windows 10 PC.
The new welcome screen, shared desktops and calling features are said to be included with the September update, but smart home control may not be available immediately. Along with Philips Hue, Microsoft plans to support Nest, Insteon, Wink and SmartThings.
- Microsoft unveils the Surface Laptop, a Windows 10 S device looking to take down the MacBook
- Microsoft will now release major Windows 10 updates twice a year
- Windows 10 S is a streamlined version of Windows for education
Microsoft’s PC partners HP and Lenovo are said to be working on new PCs to take advantage of the new features, although currents ones can be refreshed. It’s possible that these features, along with new PCs, will be officially announced at Microsoft’s 23 May event in Shanghai.
HTC One X10 gets wider rollout, 5.5-inch octa-core handset with 16MP camera
HTC has introduced a mid-range handset for around £300 that features a decent spec list for the money.
The HTC One X10 has a 5.5-inch Full HD display, 64-bit octa-core MediaTek Helio P10 processor and 3GB of RAM. There’s also a 16-megapixel camera on the rear and an 8-megapixel selfie snapper on the front.
Unfortunately, it’s currently only available in Russia and, from 17 May, Australia. But as the manufacturer did eventually bring its predecessor, the HTC One X9, to Europe we could see this new device on these shores in the nearish future.
The phone costs A$549 down under, making it around £311 or US$404 at current exchange rates – not likely to break the bank.
- HTC U 11 ‘Ocean’: Release date, specs and rumours
It comes in white or black and other features include HTC BoomSound, Bluetooth 4.2 and a hearty 4,000mAh battery capable of lasting up to a claimed 25.5 hours for talk time. It also has fast charging capabilities.
We’re not sure what flavour of Android or Sense it ships with, only that it carries both.
There is 32GB of storage space and a microSD card slot is capable of expanding that by up to 2TB. There’s a fingerprint sensor on the rear for security.
We’ll let you know if we spy the phone in the UK or US.
Baidu AI helps parents find their abducted son 27 years later
Facial recognition tech has loads of application other than the creepy ones that put your privacy at risk. In China, for instance, it has helped a couple find their son 27 years after he was abducted. Fu Gui thought it was strange that he only had vague memories of his childhood, so he uploaded a photo taken when he was 10 years old to a website called Baobeihuijia, which translates to “Baby Come Home.” Little did he know that his parents would also upload his childhood photos on the website a few months later and that Baidu’s facial recognition tech would bring them back together.
Tens of thousands of kids are abducted in China every year and are either sold to foster parents or to more sinister individuals who’d use them for prostitution or child slavery. Baobeihuijia was created to reunite families torn apart by those abductions. For years, its volunteers would painstakingly compare images uploaded by parents against those uploaded by people looking for their families or by concerned citizens one by one. This March, though, Baidu offered the group its cross-age facial recognition technology, which it’s been testing since November last year.
Baidu’s AI already found a few matches since the website started using it a couple of months ago: Gui’s was one of them, and he and his parents even proved it with a DNA test. The system is still far from perfect and can only match photos taken six years apart. Still, China’s answer to Google says its technology is 99.77 percent accurate, and it can definitely pore over photos faster than humans can.
Source: Vocativ, Creativity
Thwart purse-snatchers with this hidden smoke and dye bomb
For anyone worrying a thief might steal their handbag and disappear, Malaysian sportswear company Ash Be Nimble has a new preventative measure. Its Handbag Dyetonator is a small accessory that spews smoke and splashes the offender in ink, marking them for the police to identify later.
The Dyetonator is triggered by an SMS message, so it conceivably won’t go out of range unless the thief ventures belowground. As the video suggests, the product was made to thwart motorcycle-bound robbers that snatch purses and zoom ahead to disappear before police can be summoned. Even if the thief gets away, the Dyetonator has a GPS tracker.
There are obvious drawbacks: Someone could simply ditch the exploded pod, and surely its explosion would splatter over the bag or inside its contents. But it puts a little power back in the hands of people worried about rampant thieves. Unfortunately, the Dyetonator isn’t in stores yet, as it was created in partnership with advertising agency Ogilvy — but if you’re lucky, you can test it an early model by signing up for the trial group.
Via: Mashable
Source: Handbag Dyetonator
The Senate has finished encrypting all its websites
Google would approve of the Senate’s latest security move: according to ZDNet, it has just finished encrypting its main website and all its Senators’ pages. You’ll now see a small lock in their address bars when you visit, along with the HTTPS protocol indicative of encrypted websites. They’re what tells you that you’re on the right page and not on some copycat’s that’s trying to steal your info. ZDNet says it took the Senate a year to complete the migration, since its IT department had to migrate everything on its own. It received no help from any of America’s agencies like the executive branch did when the White House wanted to make HTTPS a standard for all federal websites.
We’re way past the point wherein only bank and email portals need to be encrypted. You’ll hear more and more cases of security breaches every day, and encrypting websites is now cheaper than ever. Google has been pushing the web to switch to the HTTPS protocol by slowly but surely limiting unencrypted destinations on Chrome. The browser now warns you whenever you visit a non-HTTPs site and even whenever you type anything into an unencrypted page if you insist on visiting it anyway. Google’s ultimate goal is to flag everything on the web that doesn’t use encryption, which clearly won’t be a problem for the Senate anymore.
Source: ZDNet
Opera Web Browser Redesign Brings Quick Access to Chat Apps
Opera web browser has undergone a major user interface redesign that features quick access tools to popular messaging apps including WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger (via TechCrunch).
Codenamed “Reborn”, the design overhaul project has been evident in beta builds for some weeks, but the new browser version is now available as a stable release and existing users should receive the update automatically over the next few days.
The messaging service access appears as sidebar icon for each chat platform, which invokes a popup with existing conversation lists. Users are able to start chatting from the sidebar while they browse the web. Chat app shortcuts are also displayed on the Speed Dial homepage.
Buttons and tabs have been reworked, with more prominent shadows and subtle animations. Also included in the redesign are new-look Speed Dial themes, refreshed icons, and a new dark mode featuring dark toolbars.
Opera also continues to include a free VPN and a built-in ad blocker. The web browser is a free download for Mac from the Opera website.
Tag: Opera browser
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How Can EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free Help Your Business to Avoid Losses?
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- accidental deletion
- theft
- fire
- the storage media damaged physically
- failure of operating system or hardware
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‘Secret World Legends’ arrives on Steam on June 26th
The Secret World’s mix of supernatural horror and real world settings made it a cult hit with MMO fans, but the game’s developers are now gearing up to bring even more players into fold on the game’s 10-year anniversary. The rebooted, free-to-play “shared-world action RPG” version of the game, now titled Secret World Legends, goes live on Steam on June 26th.
The Legends storyline once again drops players into a global secret war between good and evil, with quests that investigate anything from conspiracy theories to ancient myths and legends. When it’s released next month, Secret World Legends will include the original eight story-driven episodes, and players can either work through it alone or party up with strangers they meet along the way. Agartha, the game’s central hub, acts as a meeting and jumping off point to adventure areas ranging from sleepy New England towns to the deserts of Egypt.
Of course, the new version also includes some updated visuals, a new progression system and a more immersive, reticle-based combat style. Funcom assures players that it will be rolling out additional free quests in the future and everything in the game can be earned without spending a penny. You will, however, still have to pony up for a micro-transaction with the new Aurum currency system if you want certain upgrades like extra character slots, additional weapon pages and exclusive vanity items.
Secret World Legends hits Steam on June 26th, a non-Steam version is expected to follow soon after.
Source: Secret World Legends
Slack predictably rejects a bot made for flirting at work
Dating app Feeld released a Slack plug-in enabling coworkers to express mutual affection for each other, and a few days later, Slack has revealed it doesn’t make the cut. Feeld founder Dimo Trifonov told The Atlantic he’s been informed the app will not be listed in Slack’s directory because of its developer policy, which says “We will remove Apps that we consider to be inappropriate for use in the workplace or that negatively impact the user experience on Slack. We reserve the right to remove or refuse any app that contains content that we believe violates the letter or spirit of these guidelines.”
Despite the sudden popularity of messenger bots for all kinds of activities, this always seemed like a bad idea for the workplace. When you consider that it could only work if an administrator turned it on (note: it can still be installed, if you go through the step of downloading it from Feeld’s website first), and opened the company up to potential responsibility for whatever might ensue, it seems doubtful that anyone would make this mistake. On Twitter, Trifonov claimed installs in “over 150 companies and over 250 matches,” if you’ll believe that.
Now, the app is hidden away, Feeld has gotten the publicity from its stunt and we can all move on.
Via: NY Mag
Source: The Atlantic
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