If there was a list of features we wanted on a ready-to-fly drone, it might well read like PlexiDrone’s spec-sheet. Unlike many off-the-shelf hobby quadcopters, this one comes in bits that you “snap” together when needed, making it more portable. Furthermore, it comes with a hard-shell backpack, “follow-me” functionality (which is becoming more of a thing), obstacle avoidance, and retractable landing gear (no more “legs” in shot). Perhaps two of the more understated, yet interesting features are the ability to easily swap in different cameras, and that you can simply control it with a phone. Most of us have phones, right? And, if you own anything other than a GoPro, you won’t have to go buy one just to use with the drone. PlexiDrone already met its funding, but if you’re quick you can still reserve yours for $700, and sit tight until April next year for delivery.
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Love the HTC One M8, but aren’t quite sold on the company’s dedication to UltraPixel technology? Good news — HTC redesigned the M8 just for you! Bad news? It’s only available in asian markets. If you’re looking for differences, there aren’t many: the M8 Eye appears to be the standard model in every respect save for the fact that the 4MP UltraPixel shooter has been replaced by a plain-jane 13 megapixel camera. Think of it as a metallic, not-so-waterproof Butterfly 2. The new M8 will ship with the same “Eye Experience” software as the HTC Desire Eye the company announced earlier this week, which also sports a 13MP camera in lieu of Ultrapixels. Don’t worry though, HTC assured us it isn’t abandoning UltraPixel technology — it just wants to offer customers multiple options.
With how many of Google’s core apps are getting updated to the new, flatter Material Design, the release of Android L can’t be too much further away. While we wait for that, however, the Google Play redesign leaked not too long ago is available for sideloading right now, as spotted by Droid Life. With it, the “What’s New” section’s been moved back to the top of the store and you’ll now be able to create device-specific profiles (like one for phones and another for tablets) for restoring a custom set of apps per gizmo-type. If you’d rather not wait your turn for the update from Mountain View, DL has the APK, while Android Police has a smattering of screenshots if you want an advance look of what you’re getting into. If you haven’t started a betting pool for when Android L will hit, now just might be the time.
Would you buy an Apple Watch if the fashion industry named it the “it gadget” of 2015, even if you couldn’t care less about what it can do? See, it’s slated to grace the cover of Vogue China’s November issue, merely a month after it made its first public appearance at Paris Fashion Week — so clearly, Cupertino wants to present it as a chic device for the tech-savvy fashionista. According to Vogue China EIC Angelica Cheung, she met with Apple CEO Tim Cook and head designer Jony Ive way before the watch’s September 9 unveiling, hinting that the company always meant to put some focus on fashion when it comes to marketing this particular product. If you’re wondering which variant gets the honor, it’s the fancy 18-karat gold one (check out the image after the break), though you’ll see other versions in the editorial spread inside.
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The latest scuffle between Uber and the taxi industry is, as you might expect, a bit one-sided. The Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit Association (TLPA) trade group recently issued a press release stating that the Better Business Bureau has given Uber an F rating (failing), citing the service’s surge pricing and customer complaints regarding difficulties with customer service reps as the main faults. TLPA spokesperson Dave Sutton naturally sees this as leading to the ride-sharing giant’s downfall. “Uber’s unresponsiveness could easily contribute to or cause the company’s next tragedy,” he told Bloomberg. What that press release fails to mention, noted by Bloomberg, is that quite a few of the largest cab companies have the same dismal grade with the BBB. In its defense, Uber said that complaints that users make through the app are addressed on a regular basis and that taxi outfits are well-known for not addressing complaints of their own.
[Image credit: Getty Images]
Tesla’s “D” unveiling might have got a little early reveal thanks to USA Today (update: the article has been removed) but we’ve had a chance to see it for ourselves. As rumored, Tesla is rolling out new all-wheel drive equipped versions of its Model S (check out our review of the original here). The top of the line dual-motor equipped P85D has a measured 0 – 60 time of 3.2 seconds, which should put it among the fastest sedans ever when it starts shipping in December. According to Musk, the system is a “huge improvement” that actually adds efficiency over a single motor — about 10 miles in range per charge. That’s apparently because there’s no shaft between the front and rear axles, and the motors constantly adjust output so well that it overcomes the weight of the second engine.
Update: Elon Musk revealed the truth about D’s dual-motor setup, and then we rode along in the P85D, check out the video and details after the break!
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There are many, many people who’ve always wanted a powerful space telescope in their backyards but can’t exactly afford one. For avid makers and DIY enthusiasts, at least, that’s not such an absurd dream anymore — not when someone has designed an automated 3D-printed telescope that’s powered by a commercially available phone: the Nokia Lumia 1020. The device is called Ultrascope, and it stands one meter tall when assembled, with a base that measures 65 centimeters wide. It was created by Open Space Agency founder James Parr, who promised to upload the current design and future iterations to his organization’s website once the ongoing beta testing’s done.
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Remember those two European satellites that went spectacularly off-course in August? Well, it turns out that the reason the vessels entered into the wrong orbit was due to frozen fuel lines. Space Travel reports that pipes containing the Russian Soyuz rocket’s (which put the satellites into space) propellent were placed too close to some pretty frigid helium lines, which in turn restricted the flow of fuel to a pair of altitude control thrusters and subsequently caused a lack of power. The good news is that this “design flaw” is apparently fixable easily and immediately for future missions. That won’t help the Galileo GPS satellites for now however, because they don’t have enough fuel to reach the intended orbit. Assuming there’s enough money to go around there’s always next time, at least.
So, just how far did U2′s Songs of Innocence spread during its tenure as a free, exclusive iTunes album? Pretty far: according to Eddy Cue, Apple senior VP of internist software and services, 81 million customers heard at least one song from the album during its free period. While those numbers represent just partial downloads of the album, Cue told Billboard that 26 million iTunes users nabbed the whole thing. Those are huge numbers — he told the publication that before the promotion, only 14 million iTunes customers had purchase the band’s music since 2003.
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Another very cool item hidden within CEATEC, Japan’s biggest tech show, was the Tempescope. The team behind it call it “an ambient physical display that visualizes the weather, inside your living room” — it’s an elaborate lit-up box that shows you tomorrow’s weather in a very classy, oddly relaxing, way. To work out exact what kind of weather it should summon, the Tempescope pulls hourly forecasts from a wireless connection from a PC (future models could pretty easily pluck similar information from your smartphone), and once the ‘scope knows what’s happening, it’ll try to create those meteorological conditions inside the sealed cuboid you see above. A combination of water and ultrasonics creates the cloudy vapor inside the box, while water can also be gathered at the top, and dripped down to create rain. LED lights at the top attempt offer up an estimation of either thunder or sunshine, depending on what’s going down tomorrow.
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