This 'flying wing' design is fairly popular with RC aircraft hobbyists. They generally use a pusher propeller on the back, and large control surfaces on each wing known as elevons (combined elevator + ailerons).
People seem to think that these 'evil drones' can hover silently all day recording stable HD video through a window...
Things to consider:
- Multicopters are quite noisy
- They have very limited range/battery life
- They take a fair bit of skill/practice to fly
- They're fighting wind and vibrations. Getting stable footage is tricky
- GoPros are great for filming landscapes, but a wide-angle lens isn't really much use for close-up spying on people
- If you point a camera at a window, you'll mostly just get reflections anyway
If you want to spy on somebody, a better solution is a camera with a big zoom lens, on a tripod, on solid ground. Or a GoPro on a pole if you want to peer over fences.
Plenty of model aircraft have been built and flown which aren't sale models of full-size aircraft. How about this foam approximation of a Star Destroyer?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBZcBLoPUEY
Is this any more or less a 'toy' or 'model aircraft' then a carefully crafted scale replica of a Spitfire?
What about the Hubsan X4 - or any of the many small, light, and fairly safe $100 'toy' quadcopters out there these days, do these not count as a toy/model either, due to drone paranoia?
Given how far behind they are, I really couldn't care less about what they're doing to gain market share in the phone/tablet markets
What I really do care about, though, is having traditional general-purpose power-user-friendly desktop computing slowly taken away, and forcibly replaced by a dumbed-down locked-down model of computing centered around code signing and a single App Store.
You can install desktop apps, unless you're running WinRT - which is the likely model for all consumer versions of Windows (maybe enterprise versions too, in the more distant future?...)
WinRT has a desktop, and could run desktop apps (once they were recompiled for ARM) - but Microsoft has locked this away, as they want their control and a 30% or so cut of all software sales. (Which in the future, in a signed-code-only world, could effectively be demanding 30% of all revenue from, say, companies such as Autodesk, Adobe, and more!!)
Does the dev license let you side-load software compiled by somebody else (e.g. the apps that MS ban from the store - emulators and so on)? - or does that only work for open source projects? Whichever way it works, frequently-expiring certificates are a bloody pain.
It's not about it being hard to find.
It's about functionality moving from 'real computing world' into 'locked-down App Store computing world'.
(AFAIK it's been moved to Metro in 8.1)
Amazed so few people notice/care about the real issue here. It's not about UI fails and touch/mobile focus - that's a minor issue.
It's about Microsoft moving from a 'general purpose computing' model to an 'app store computing' model. Where everything has to be code-signed, approved/censored, and taxed at 30%+.
They are doing this by gradually phasing out the desktop and applying pressure to users to use Metro, by making it harder to avoid - whilst the desktop gradually has functionality stripped out (first the Start menu, now the control panel)
This is why we should absolutely reject Win8. Not because the new start screen is annoying.
But it's NOT ABOUT THE UI with windows 8. The UI issues are merely a mix of incompetence and misdirection.
Windows 8/WinRT is all about moving people from the desktop to Metro. From general-purpose computing to 'App Store computing'
Microsoft are following Apple, pushing as many people as possible into a world where all code must be signed, approved, censored, and taxed at 30%+ by the platform holder. And to do that, they will gradually limit the usefulness of the desktop.
Unity doesn't suck (although the workflow doesn't suit everybody). A lot of Unity users are inexperienced, and don't fully understand how Unity's rendering tech works.
Without a background in lower-level games/graphics programming, It's very easy to over-use expensive features (pass-per-light dynamic lights, projectors, full-screen post effects) without knowing what Unity is having to do behind the scenes.
You rarely get a car dealer saying 'no, you don't want to buy that NEW car!... buy this used one instead, for just $50 less!'
It's not a great comparison, though, as there's extra risks/costs associated with buying a used car. With used software, the used copy is exactly the same as the new copy (assuming the disc is undamaged)
Developers/publishers *need* to fight back against pre-owned, as game retailers really started to take the piss, and it's really been hurting the people who make the games. This isn't about stopping friends sharing games or selling them privately on eBay, although sadly these users will suffer too.
This is to stop retailers going to great lengths to sell pre-owned *instead* of new copies. Mixing new and preowned stock on the same shelf was ridiculous enough, but Iit's got to the point where you try to buy a new copy of a game, and they're actively pushing pre-owned even at the checkout: 'Are you sure you want a new copy? This pre-owned one is $2 less!'
This directly hurts publishers and developers, who need the new sales and make no revenue from pre-owned. Publishers have been way to slow and scared to respond, they should have clamped down much earlier. After all, it's never happened to this extent with music or DVDs, and I expect that the music/movie industry would be very quick to stamp these sort of practices out if pre-owned sales were being pushed in the same way.
If you're even vaguely competent at videogames, and comfortable with a dual-stick game controller, you can learn to fly these micro-quads easily enough.
Just don't fly too high/fast to begin with, and start by just practicing 'tail in' hovering (keeping it facing away from you). If you start to lose control, just kill the throttle and let it drop to the ground - they're so small and light that they'll be unharmed by most falls onto carpet or grass.
As for safety, unlike larger RC helis/quads, these little quads are fairly harmless. Those tiny propellors sting a bit if they hit bare flesh, but as long as you don't fly it straight into somebodys face at full throttle, there's not much chance of anybody getting hurt.
Take a look at the Walkera Ladybird (~£100) or Hubsan X4 (~£50). These little quadcopters are surprisingly good for toys. Things have moved on from those crap polystyrene 2-channel IR-controlled helis
Add a cheap camera system, and you could still have hundreds of them for the price of one mil-spec system. Although the military version does look very impressive, it's probably overkill for looking around corners/over obstacles:)
I was quite surprised to see that this military model is a heli, was expecting a quadcopter, they're mechanically simpler (easier to repair!). Micro-sized toy/hobby-grade quads (e.g. Walkera Ladybird, Hubsan X4) are pretty impressive these days, I'm sure with a military hardware budget they could be made even better...
30min battery life is impressive though, compared to toy/hobby gear, where 5-8mins is about all you'll get out of something on that scale.
I'll admit that I've not tried ChromeOS yet. But I see nothing appealing about an 'operating system' that only runs HTML+Javascript apps...
(Or is there some sort of native code support too? NaCL maybe?)
If I want a device for browsing the web/content consumption, there's a plentiful selection of Android/iOS devices out there already. And they run native apps too.
Browser game?! - really can't imagine that from Blizzard... I mean seriously, what tech would you use to make a high-end 3D MMO for the web? - HTML5 is still in it's infancy, and not fit for use for a high-end game project (due to having to distribute it as Javascript source, amongst other things). Flash/Stage3D is in a somewhat better state, but you still pay a high price in performance/functionality over native code.
So I really don't think it'll be web-based. Sadly, given what they did to Diablo3 with the real-money auction house, Free2Play/Pay2Win seems highly likely, though:(
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This 'flying wing' design is fairly popular with RC aircraft hobbyists. They generally use a pusher propeller on the back, and large control surfaces on each wing known as elevons (combined elevator + ailerons).
If it shipped with their game controller, it might be worth considering. But the controller is an optional extra...
You can already go around shouting 'Xbox, Turn Off!', hoping somebody has their Kinect mic a bit close to their speakers...
The overuse of the word 'creepy' is arguably far worse than the arguably correct use of 'females'
People seem to think that these 'evil drones' can hover silently all day recording stable HD video through a window...
Things to consider:
- Multicopters are quite noisy
- They have very limited range/battery life
- They take a fair bit of skill/practice to fly
- They're fighting wind and vibrations. Getting stable footage is tricky
- GoPros are great for filming landscapes, but a wide-angle lens isn't really much use for close-up spying on people
- If you point a camera at a window, you'll mostly just get reflections anyway
If you want to spy on somebody, a better solution is a camera with a big zoom lens, on a tripod, on solid ground. Or a GoPro on a pole if you want to peer over fences.
Plenty of model aircraft have been built and flown which aren't sale models of full-size aircraft. How about this foam approximation of a Star Destroyer?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBZcBLoPUEY
Is this any more or less a 'toy' or 'model aircraft' then a carefully crafted scale replica of a Spitfire?
What about the Hubsan X4 - or any of the many small, light, and fairly safe $100 'toy' quadcopters out there these days, do these not count as a toy/model either, due to drone paranoia?
Make it hard to get hold of pure, *relatively* safe drugs... and people end up doing shit like this...
Does the world really need another 'App Store Platform'?
Want to steal firearms, for use in your criminal endeavours? - here's a handy app to show you where to find them...
Given how far behind they are, I really couldn't care less about what they're doing to gain market share in the phone/tablet markets
What I really do care about, though, is having traditional general-purpose power-user-friendly desktop computing slowly taken away, and forcibly replaced by a dumbed-down locked-down model of computing centered around code signing and a single App Store.
You can install desktop apps, unless you're running WinRT - which is the likely model for all consumer versions of Windows (maybe enterprise versions too, in the more distant future?...)
WinRT has a desktop, and could run desktop apps (once they were recompiled for ARM) - but Microsoft has locked this away, as they want their control and a 30% or so cut of all software sales. (Which in the future, in a signed-code-only world, could effectively be demanding 30% of all revenue from, say, companies such as Autodesk, Adobe, and more!!)
Does the dev license let you side-load software compiled by somebody else (e.g. the apps that MS ban from the store - emulators and so on)? - or does that only work for open source projects? Whichever way it works, frequently-expiring certificates are a bloody pain.
It's not about it being hard to find. It's about functionality moving from 'real computing world' into 'locked-down App Store computing world'. (AFAIK it's been moved to Metro in 8.1)
Amazed so few people notice/care about the real issue here. It's not about UI fails and touch/mobile focus - that's a minor issue.
It's about Microsoft moving from a 'general purpose computing' model to an 'app store computing' model. Where everything has to be code-signed, approved/censored, and taxed at 30%+.
They are doing this by gradually phasing out the desktop and applying pressure to users to use Metro, by making it harder to avoid - whilst the desktop gradually has functionality stripped out (first the Start menu, now the control panel)
This is why we should absolutely reject Win8. Not because the new start screen is annoying.
But it's NOT ABOUT THE UI with windows 8. The UI issues are merely a mix of incompetence and misdirection.
Windows 8/WinRT is all about moving people from the desktop to Metro. From general-purpose computing to 'App Store computing'
Microsoft are following Apple, pushing as many people as possible into a world where all code must be signed, approved, censored, and taxed at 30%+ by the platform holder. And to do that, they will gradually limit the usefulness of the desktop.
Compared to mining gold/diamonds, mining bitcoins has a fairly small impact on the environment, and nobody gets hurt in the process.
Well, Unity does contain a lightmapping tools named 'Beast'...
Unity doesn't suck (although the workflow doesn't suit everybody). A lot of Unity users are inexperienced, and don't fully understand how Unity's rendering tech works.
Without a background in lower-level games/graphics programming, It's very easy to over-use expensive features (pass-per-light dynamic lights, projectors, full-screen post effects) without knowing what Unity is having to do behind the scenes.
You rarely get a car dealer saying 'no, you don't want to buy that NEW car!... buy this used one instead, for just $50 less!'
It's not a great comparison, though, as there's extra risks/costs associated with buying a used car. With used software, the used copy is exactly the same as the new copy (assuming the disc is undamaged)
If you had any idea how time-consuming and costly modern console game development can be, you'd understand why games are so expensive.
(Oh, even at $0.99, games bitch and moan about games being too expensive, too... the fun of being a mobile developer...)
Developers/publishers *need* to fight back against pre-owned, as game retailers really started to take the piss, and it's really been hurting the people who make the games. This isn't about stopping friends sharing games or selling them privately on eBay, although sadly these users will suffer too.
This is to stop retailers going to great lengths to sell pre-owned *instead* of new copies. Mixing new and preowned stock on the same shelf was ridiculous enough, but Iit's got to the point where you try to buy a new copy of a game, and they're actively pushing pre-owned even at the checkout: 'Are you sure you want a new copy? This pre-owned one is $2 less!'
This directly hurts publishers and developers, who need the new sales and make no revenue from pre-owned. Publishers have been way to slow and scared to respond, they should have clamped down much earlier. After all, it's never happened to this extent with music or DVDs, and I expect that the music/movie industry would be very quick to stamp these sort of practices out if pre-owned sales were being pushed in the same way.
If you're even vaguely competent at videogames, and comfortable with a dual-stick game controller, you can learn to fly these micro-quads easily enough.
Just don't fly too high/fast to begin with, and start by just practicing 'tail in' hovering (keeping it facing away from you). If you start to lose control, just kill the throttle and let it drop to the ground - they're so small and light that they'll be unharmed by most falls onto carpet or grass.
As for safety, unlike larger RC helis/quads, these little quads are fairly harmless. Those tiny propellors sting a bit if they hit bare flesh, but as long as you don't fly it straight into somebodys face at full throttle, there's not much chance of anybody getting hurt.
Take a look at the Walkera Ladybird (~£100) or Hubsan X4 (~£50). These little quadcopters are surprisingly good for toys. Things have moved on from those crap polystyrene 2-channel IR-controlled helis
:)
Add a cheap camera system, and you could still have hundreds of them for the price of one mil-spec system. Although the military version does look very impressive, it's probably overkill for looking around corners/over obstacles
I was quite surprised to see that this military model is a heli, was expecting a quadcopter, they're mechanically simpler (easier to repair!). Micro-sized toy/hobby-grade quads (e.g. Walkera Ladybird, Hubsan X4) are pretty impressive these days, I'm sure with a military hardware budget they could be made even better...
30min battery life is impressive though, compared to toy/hobby gear, where 5-8mins is about all you'll get out of something on that scale.
I'll admit that I've not tried ChromeOS yet. But I see nothing appealing about an 'operating system' that only runs HTML+Javascript apps...
(Or is there some sort of native code support too? NaCL maybe?)
If I want a device for browsing the web/content consumption, there's a plentiful selection of Android/iOS devices out there already. And they run native apps too.
Browser game?! - really can't imagine that from Blizzard... I mean seriously, what tech would you use to make a high-end 3D MMO for the web? - HTML5 is still in it's infancy, and not fit for use for a high-end game project (due to having to distribute it as Javascript source, amongst other things). Flash/Stage3D is in a somewhat better state, but you still pay a high price in performance/functionality over native code.
:(
So I really don't think it'll be web-based. Sadly, given what they did to Diablo3 with the real-money auction house, Free2Play/Pay2Win seems highly likely, though