The Passport foldable drone makes for a fun travel companion
My first drone flight experience was with the DJI Phantom 2 Vision, and as much as I appreciated its advanced capabilities at the time, I longed for something more compact — a device so small that I wouldn’t need to carry a separate bag or case for it, preferably without sacrificing performance. Eventually, a Chinese startup called Zero Zero Robotics released the $599 Hover Camera Passport, which comes in the unique form of a foldable cage while packing cool features like body tracking, face tracking and orbiting. I got to spend some time with the Passport over the past few weeks, and eventually it got to the point where I rarely leave home without it, lest I find time to take it for a quick spin.
Compared to higher-end foldable drones like DJI’s Mavic Pro and GoPro’s Karma (assuming GoPro issues a fix for random power losses), the Passport’s major advantages are its size, weight and caged propellers. At just 242 grams, or 0.53 pounds, the Passport is exempt from the FAA’s mandatory registration and is also unlikely to hurt anyone should something go wrong, as its propellers are shielded by a carbon fiber enclosure. When folded, it’s just 33mm (1.3 inches) thick, and even in its 45mm-thick protective case (which stores the drone and two batteries), it fits in my backpack with plenty of room to spare.
Speaking of, I’m impressed by the thoughtful set of accessories included in the box. In addition to that aforementioned protective case, there’s a shoulder strap for it, a soft bag (just make sure you won’t squash the drone), a second battery, a dual-battery charger, a USB 3.0 cable, four spare propellers, 12 extra screws and a pair of screwdrivers.
Zero Zero Robotics is currently only selling the full drone package, but you’ll soon be able to buy spare accessories as well, including batteries for $40 apiece. (In fact, the company will be throwing in a third battery plus free shipping as part of a Black Friday promotion.) From my experience, each battery offers a flight time of about 10 minutes, as promised, and it takes about 40 minutes to recharge each, so the more the merrier.
The Passport doesn’t come with a dedicated controller, as it’s geared mostly towards casual users. You’ll have to download the companion Hover Camera app onto your iOS or Android device and then connect it to the drone’s WiFi hotspot over 2.4GHz or 5GHz (you’ll want the latter for better streaming quality; both go up to 20 meters). This is all very straightforward as is navigating through the relatively simple interface. As someone familiar with the basic controls for the DJI Phantom series, I tend to pick the “Joystick” control mode (my preferred mode) instead of “Classic” (up and down buttons for height and a four-way pad for horizontal direction) or “Motion” (a height stick and a toggle button for tilt control).
Unlike most other drones, the Passport can only be launched from one’s hand: Hold up the powered-on unit with its wings open, tap the power button to rev up the propellers for about one second, and then release the unit to let it hover. Similarly, you can retrieve the hovering Passport with your hand without ever having to worry about the blades: Grab it and tap the power button to kill the propellers, or you can first tilt the unit downward to slow the propellers down before tapping the power button. When the battery level is critically low, the drone can slowly land itself using the sonar sensor under its belly; you can also use the One-Touch Landing button to toggle automatic landing at any time.
It’s safe to say that the Passport is one of the very few — if not the only — drones that can be launched and retrieved so safely. This is guaranteed to impress your family, friends and strangers alike — in my case, strangers include the security officers at Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport who were so curious they didn’t mind me flying the drone inside the building.
The Passport’s camera features a 13-megapixel CMOS sensor that can capture video at 4K, 1080p and 720p, all with a normal frame rate of 30 fps. All captured images and videos are stored in the 32GB internal memory (my unit showed 22.6GB of usable space after formatting), and since the Passport is basically a Qualcomm Snapdragon Flight 801 device running on Android, you can transfer its content to your PC in the same way you do with Android phones. With the exception of 4K clips, you can also download the content directly from the app to your smartphone.
During my vacation in Okinawa, I captured all my Passport footage in 4K without realizing that only the lower resolutions support electronic stabilization — a necessary feature since the camera hinges on just a one-directional gimbal as opposed to the three-axis gimbal on more advanced drones. I’m glad that I did use the 4K setting by accident as, truth be told, even with the slightest breeze I was bound to see some shakiness, regardless of the video resolution. If it’s a moderately windy day, forget it — the lightweight Passport won’t stand a chance. That said, braver folks may want to challenge Mother Nature by toggling “Beast Mode” for the maximum flying speed of eight meters per second (about 17.9 miles per hour).
Back in Hong Kong, I found that it’s only a tad better with electronic stabilization at 1080p resolution, but it’s the loss in detail that’s more noticeable. In some cases, I could even see some annoying warping across the frame due to the electronic stabilization. To put things in perspective, the Passport’s 1080p clips have a maximum video bit rate of 16 Mbps (I get 17 Mbps from the Samsung S7 Edge and 20 Mbps from the Xiaomi Mi 5s) whereas its 4K clips are capped at a more impressive 60 Mbps (beating the S7 Edge’s 48.1 Mbps and the Mi 5s’ 42 Mbps).
Simply put, I don’t think it’s worth giving up the 4K sharpness for that little bit of stabilization; I’d rather stick with 4K and use PC video-editing software to stabilize the clips afterwards. Shakiness aside, I’m actually quite happy with the general picture quality offered by the Passport, so long as there’s plenty of daylight. There were a few still images which could use a slight boost in exposure, but that’s an easy fix. And when it’s dark, you can try using the dual-tone LED flash for the still shots.
As I mentioned earlier, the Passport is capable of face tracking and body tracking. Just pick one of these features in the sidebar, and when you see a yellow bracket around you (you need to keep a minimum distance of four meters from the drone), tap on it and off you go (it’ll start recording as well if you weren’t already recording). Despite the wind, my unit did surprisingly well in chasing after me along the beach in Okinawa. I also had similar success on a soccer field and along a waterfront park in Hong Kong, and the drone could even follow me walking up the stairs — up to the point where I had to make a turn to walk along the bridge, but the bridge wall partially blocked the drone’s sight of me.
Another neat video recording feature is the orbit mode because it’s the easiest way to make anyone look cool. Once the app recognizes me, I just have to tap the yellow bracket on my face and the drone will start circling around me until I stop it. The one thing you need to be wary of here is that the drone may drift a little in the wind, thus ending up with an incomplete orbit. Last but not least, there’s the 360 spin feature that does exactly what it says. Again, you have to tell it to stop spinning. Check out what I got out of these in the above sample video reel.
Even after playing with the Passport for several weeks, I continue to be impressed by how capable and unique this drone is. It’s essentially your personal travel cameraman, except you won’t have to buy an extra plane ticket for it. Better yet, Zero Zero Robotics has already delivered a couple of firmware updates to improve the Passport’s video quality plus body tracking performance, and it’ll continue to do so in the many days to come. But, due to its form factor, little can be done about the drone’s weak resistance against even moderate wind — either avoid the breeze or spend an extra $400 on the Mavic Pro if you want to avoid the hassle.
Facebook is adding donate buttons to charity Live videos
After spending a week battling a fake news epidemic, getting to grips with privacy regulators in Europe and dealing with another admission of misreporting ad data, Facebook finally has some good news to share. In a bid to do more “social good,” Mark Zuckerberg and his team have announced a new round of updates to community tools aimed at keeping users safe and allowing them to help others.
First is an update to Facebook’s Safety Check feature, a tool that lets users tell their friends and family they are safe during a natural disaster or a potentially dangerous event. As we reported last week, Facebook has confirmed it’s in the process of creating always-on Safety Check hubs called Community Help, which will let people mark themselves safe, but also offer or request things like shelter, food and supplies. Facebook will also put Safety Check activations in the hands of users, so when a lot of people share news of an incident in a particular area, they may be asked to confirm they are out of harm’s way.
Next is a way for non-profit organizations to do more of what they’re good at: raising donations. Facebook says it’s in the process of expanding its Fundraisers tool to more than 750,000 non-profits, which includes the option to add a donate button to Live buttons and posts. If someone is broadcasting their charitable event via Facebook Live, you’ll now be able to donate instead of spreading goodwill via Likes and Heart Reactions.
For Movember, the charity drive that gives hairy dudes a valid reason to get hairier, US users will be able to collect donations directly via Facebook. To further promote #GivingTuesday, the company has teamed up with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to contribute up to $1 million to Facebook fundraisers. “The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will provide $500,000 in matching funds, up to $1,000 per Facebook fundraiser, and Facebook will waive up to $500,000 of fees on all donations,” says Naomi Gleit, VP of Social Good.
Source: Facebook
Twitter CEO apologizes for white supremacist promoted tweets
Earlier this week, Twitter rolled out new tools to help users combat abuse. That seemed to stir up a hornets’ nest of white supremacists, as some Twitter users started noticing promoted tweets for those hate groups on their timelines. The company initially denied the veracity of those reports, but now CEO Jack Dorsey is offering up an apology and laying the blame on Twitter’s automated approval systems.
We made a mistake here and we apologize. Our automated system allowed an ad promoting hate. Against our policy. We did a retro and fixed! https://t.co/7gvycmzpsm
— 🚶🏽jack (@jack) November 17, 2016
Dorsey’s response also follows Twitter’s biggest moves yet against hate groups. The company banned several “alt-right” accounts yesterday, following their displeasure around the new troll blocking tools. Supporters of that movement also started a campaign to create “fake black people” accounts on the service to — what else? — cause a stir. Trolls gotta troll, after all.
.@twitter I can’t believe anything still surprises me, but why the fuck am I seeing nazi ads on this website pic.twitter.com/jtKKnn8XR5
— Ariana Lenarsky (@aardvarsk) November 16, 2016
Source: Jack Dorsey
Snapchat’s fans, not the media, are telling the world about Spectacles
If you’ve spent any time on Twitter lately, you’ve probably noticed people going on about Spectacles, Snapchat’s just-released camera sunglasses. But much of the conversation hasn’t even focused on the launch — it’s been about the bizarre and delightful game Snapchat has made out of getting them. Rather than letting anyone buy them online, it’s been dropping adorable Snap Bot vending machines around the country, providing a countdown and map on its website so fans can breathlessly await the next appearance.
This (potentially) artificial scarcity is all part of Snapchat’s strategy. When Spectacles were first announced, CEO Evan Spiegel referred to them as “a toy,” and the quest to get a pair has become a big game for ardent fans. Every few days, a new Bot machine drops; two have been in LA while the other two have been in more far-flung corners of the country. One showed up in Big Sur, on the California coast, and the other in Oklahoma at the Blue Whale of Catoosa — one of the more famous attractions on Route 66.
pic.twitter.com/9NyJuvu57J
— Spectacles (@Spectacles) Nov. 15, 2016
With every drop, people are tweeting their excitement and disappointment, getting their hopes up during the countdown only to have them dashed when the Bot is hundreds or thousands of miles away. And the Spectacles Twitter account catalogs all the ups and downs, retweeting fans who get their hands on the glasses and frustrated potential buyers still waiting for the Bot to show up in New York City.
Didn’t really care much about @Spectacles until they made them limited edition & only available in a vending machine that randomly appears. https://t.co/XdoHTUHp5Z
— Laura (@laurablakenc) Nov. 17, 2016
It’s proved to be a pretty brilliant strategy at driving hype: Dozens of people show up at the vending machines within minutes, and the glasses are always sold out within an hour or two. By turning Spectacles into a limited commodity, Snapchat has successfully built up a surprising amount of interest for such a goofy little gadget.
Part of that strategy has been how Snapchat has dealt with the media around this launch. Which is to say, it mostly hasn’t. Usually the release of a high-profile gadget is accompanied by a wave of reviews. But that didn’t happen this time. The publications that have posted impressions of Spectacles are those that managed to get the glasses the same way as anybody else (read: by waiting in line or possibly buying a pair for an exorbitant sum on eBay).
It’s clear from both Spiegel’s earlier comments and the way the Spectacles launch has gone thus far that Snapchat doesn’t want these glasses being thought of as a traditional tech product. They’re a pair of sunglasses that also let you shoot short videos; they don’t try to do much. That’s a smart strategy: It helps lower expectations as Snapchat ventures into the minefield that is face-mounted wearables. Having a bunch of tech blogs tear apart Spectacles and whine about their flaws would suck all the excitement out of the room before the glasses were widely available.
Instead, Snapchat fans are controlling the narrative, and judging from the excitement around the product, it’s working. At some point, the game of “find the Bot” will get old and the hype will die down … and then Snapchat can drop Bots in New York or San Francisco and stoke the flames all over again.
I’m not sure how long the surprise-vending-machine strategy can go on. Eventually, would-be buyers are going to be turned off by not being able to get in on the fun. And there’s always the potential for chaos in these lines as more and more people swarm the Bots when they are revealed. But as long as Snapchat’s fans are enjoying the game, there’s no reason to stop: The US is a big country, and there’s a ton of territory left for the Bot to explore.
Bloomberg: An OLED iPhone is coming next year
OLEDs make for better displays because they draw less power and provide much nicer color reproduction. The only thing stopping them from being on every smartphone in the world is that they’re a hassle to make. It’s one of the reasons that an OLED iPhone remains as much-rumored as Half-Life 2: Episode Three. Bloomberg, however, believes that we’ll see the device hit store shelves in limited quantities by next year. At least, that’s what Apple is planning, but like the sapphire crystal display that never was, these things can always change.
The story claims that the change will coincide with a radical new design for the iPhone to celebrate its 10th anniversary. It will be “all glass,” with an edge-to-edge design and a virtual home button in place of the physical one we currently have. But Bloomberg also says that Apple wants to push an OLED iPhone in 2017, despite there being some obvious supply constrains that it can avoid if it just waited a year. It’s believed that suppliers like Samsung, LG, Sharp and Japan Display will only be able to meet Apple’s demand by 2018.
The report says that, in a rush to get OLED out of the door, it will release one device with the specification rather than across the whole line. It doesn’t seem likely that Apple would so radically bifurcate its iPhone product line beyond the two different sizes it already offers (not counting the iPhone SE). The only main difference between the iPhone 7 and its larger sibling is display size, battery capacity and an improved camera. To introduce an OLED display (and a new design) on one and not the other seems uncharacteristic.
Then again, looking at Apple’s strategy with the new MacBook Pro: keeping a lower-priced version with function keys around since the Touch Bar hardware itself is too expensive. Although it seems like it would annoy more customers than it would delight, especially since the company makes a big deal of introducing new technologies across both of its devices. It would also muddy the sensible “Small,” “Big,” “Bigger” philosophy that the company has going on across its mobile range, and make things much more like the cluttered iPad landscape.
Source: Bloomberg
Volvo Concierge brings the gas station to you
Today at the LA Auto Show, Swedish car maker Volvo introduced its new Concierge app. The application is a quick way to get third-party vendors to wash, refuel and service Volvos. The best part is that you don’t even have to leave your house to have any of these services completed.
So you can stay indoors and keep binge watching Luke Cage while a vendor that has been vetted by Volvo takes care of your car. You don’t even have to hand over your keys; the app creates a one-time digital key to open the vehicle. Once service on the car has been completed, the digital key is revoked and the car locks itself.
Volvo says that the service is open to add additional third-party companies, but it will be vetting vendors before they are added to Concierge. It’s also not adding all Volvo owners to the service initially.
A pilot program will run for about six months in San Francisco. After that pilot period ends, the company says it’s keen to start rolling out the service to owners of the new CX90 SUVs and S90s. The automaker notes that for the app to work, the vehicles require hardware only found in those cars.
Source: Volvo
Swift Playgrounds Updated With New Coding Lessons, Hour of Code Challenge
Apple’s Swift Playgrounds app received its first update today, introducing a new set of coding lessons and a few new features to enhance the coding experience.
Included in the update is the “Learn to Code 3” module, which features a fresh guided learning experience designed to walk children and adults through basic coding with Apple’s Swift programming language. Learn to Code 3 features lessons based around Blu, a fun character that’s aimed at making it easy to learn to code.
Along with Learn to Code 3, Swift Playgrounds version 1.1 features an Hour of Code challenge, which Apple says is meant to give new Swift Playground users a taste of the Learn to Code lessons.
Apple today announced plans to host several free one-hour Hour of Code workshops between December 5 and December 11 at retail stores across the world. Registration for Hour of Code is now open.
Also new in Swift Playgrounds are music and sound effects, notifications for new content, and a feature that highlights each line of code as it is run.
What’s New in Version 1.1
– Learn to Code 3 continues the guided learning experience as you help Blu explore the universe
– Hour of Code challenge gives a Byte-sized introduction to the Learn to Code lessons
– Step through your code to highlight each line as it is run
– Learn to Code now includes music and sound effects
– Notifications for new and updated contentNote: Download new copies of Learn to Code from the Featured page to get the music, sound effects, and line highlighting features.
Swift Playgrounds, which is available for all the iPad Air and later, iPad mini 2 and later, and all iPad Pro models, can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
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Apple Says it Syncs Call Logs on iCloud As a ‘Convenience to Customers’ Amid Security Concerns
Earlier today, reports surfaced on The Intercept and Forbes claiming Apple “secretly” syncs Phone and FaceTime call history logs on iCloud, complete with phone numbers, dates and times, and duration. The info comes from Russian software firm Elcomsoft, which said the call history logs are stored for up to four months.
Likewise, on iOS 10, Elcomsoft said incoming missed calls that are made through third-party VoIP apps using Apple’s CallKit framework, such as Skype, WhatsApp, and Viber, also get synced to iCloud. The call logs have been collected since at least iOS 8.2, released in March 2015, so long as a user has iCloud enabled.
Elcomsoft said the call logs are automatically synced, even if backups are turned off, with no way to opt out beyond disabling iCloud entirely.
“You can only disable uploading/syncing notes, contacts, calendars and web history, but the calls are always there,” said Vladimir Katalov, CEO of Elcomsoft. “One way call logs will disappear from the cloud, is if a user deletes a particular call record from the log on their device; then it will also get deleted from their iCloud account during the next automatic synchronization.
Given that Apple possesses the encryption keys to unlock an iCloud account for now, U.S. law enforcement agencies can obtain direct access to the logs with a court order. Worse, The Intercept claims the information could be exposed to hackers and anyone else who might be able to obtain a user’s iCloud credentials.
In some cases, hackers could access an iCloud account even without account credentials, such as by using Elcomsoft’s Phone Breaker software. The tool is being updated today with the ability to extract call histories from iCloud with only an authentication token for an account from the accountholder’s computer.
However, the entire narrative is largely overblown. In a 63-page white paper about iOS security, Apple clearly defines which information it collects for iCloud backups, emphasis our own. Likewise, in its Legal Process Guidelines, Apple notes FaceTime call invitation logs can be stored for up to 30 days.
Here’s what iCloud backs up:
• Information about purchased music, movies, TV shows, apps, and books, but not
the purchased content itself
• Photos and videos in Camera Roll
• Contacts, calendar events, reminders, and notes
• Device settings
• App data
• PDFs and books added to iBooks but not purchased
• Call history
• Home screen and app organization
• iMessage, text (SMS), and MMS messages
• Ringtones
• HomeKit data
• HealthKit data
• Visual Voicemail
Further, in a statement today, Apple said the call history syncing is intentional.
“We offer call history syncing as a convenience to our customers so that they can return calls from any of their devices,” an Apple spokesperson said in an email. “Device data is encrypted with a user’s passcode, and access to iCloud data including backups requires the user’s Apple ID and password. Apple recommends all customers select strong passwords and use two-factor authentication.”
Security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski told The Intercept he “doesn’t think Apple is doing anything nefarious in syncing the call logs,” which are very clearly stored for the purposes of Continuity and being able to access your call history across Apple devices, even after restoring from a backup.
Nevertheless, Zdziarski emphasized the need for Apple to be clear to users about the data being collected and stored on iCloud. As noted by The Intercept, Apple does not indicate call logs are synced even with iCloud Backup disabled, while FaceTime call logs appear to be stored longer than Apple’s claim of up to 30 days.
iCloud users concerned about their accounts being compromised should set a strong password and enable two-step verification.
Tag: security
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New Subscription Service ‘Setapp’ Will Offer 40+ Popular Mac Apps for $9.99 Per Month
Setapp, an upcoming subscription service from MacPaw, aims to offer a Mac App Store alternative and change the way customers obtain software for their Macs. Setapp will make 40+ popular Mac apps available to Mac users for a flat monthly fee at launch, and there are plans to continually add new apps as the service grows.
Much like Netflix, Setapp will charge users a flat $9.99 fee per month, giving them access to a wide range of Mac apps like RapidWeaver, Marked 2, Ulysses, iMazing, iStat Menus, Toast Titanium, CodeRunner, Blogo, Pagico, and more. It’s an interesting concept that has already attracted quite a few app developers, and could attract many more popular apps should the concept catch on.
Setapp includes continual updates, so users who pay the subscription fee to access apps will not need to pay separately for future updates, nor will they need to make in-app purchases or pay additional money to access full app functionality. Setapp apps will also work offline, when no internet connectivity is available, and will be installed through a main Setapp app.
Much like Apple’s own Mac App Store, Setapp pays 70 percent of revenue to developers and takes a 30 percent cut, but it also provides developers with a continuous monthly revenue stream, which could be more appealing than the Mac App Store.
Setapp is rumored to be planning to have a beta testing period in the near future, which will give Mac users a chance to try out the subscription service before it launches. Mac users can sign up to request a beta invite through the Setapp website.
Tag: Setapp
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Verizon now carrying Samsung Galaxy S7 edge in Blue Coral
You can now get your Samsung Galaxy S7 edge in Blue Coral from Verizon.
Fans of Samsung’s ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 who especially loved the glorious Blue Coral color option can now get the next best Samsung device — the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge — in that stunning shade of blue from Verizon. Verizon is also currently offering a buy one, get one half off deal for those looking to win the holiday season with an amazing gift for an loved one.
This comes on the heels of AT&T, which is also offering the S7 edge in that gorgeous blue, with their website stating phones will start shipping out Nov. 18. Both Verizon and AT&T are offering the new color option at no additional charge. T-Mobile is also expected to carry the Blue Coral S7 edge, but have yet to make an official announcement.
Samsung first announced the new color option back on Nov. 1, and began sales of the new snazzy S7 edge variation in their home South Korea a week ago. It’s pretty clear that this is an attempt by Samsung to offer the Note 7’s best and most notable color option. We’re not complaining, because that Blue Coral look is so slick.
Are you planning on grabbing one? Let us know in the comments!
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