A single police drone has seriously impacted crime in a Mexican city
A single drone used by police in the city of Ensenada in Mexico has reportedly helped to cut overall crime there by 10 percent, and burglaries by a sizable 30 percent. Cops have been using DJI's Inspire 1 quadcopter for four months and so far the eye in the sky has helped them to make 500 arrests.
Ford’s driverless delivery vehicle actually has a driver
Ford has a plan to launch a meal-delivery service within the next few years using autonomous cars that it's developing. But a pilot scheme currently underway in Miami is using a driver to control the car, allowing researchers to instead focus on developing the system for dispatching and collecting ordered meals.
Uber could soon know if you’re drunk before the car arrives to pick you up
Uber has filed a patent outlining an app-based artificial intelligence capable of detecting "uncharacteristic" behavior, such as drunkenness, among riders. That way, it could send a more experienced driver to collect the potentially boisterous rider, or ensure they don't end up in a pooled ride.
Tesla now has more than 10,000 Superchargers around the world
Tesla has opened its 10,000th Supercharger, this one in Ontario, Canada. The global network of Superchargers has been growing steadily since 2012, with the total number of stations now standing at more than 1,200. The electric-company is also building larger stations that offer facilities for longer stops.
Airbnb forced to cancel Japan bookings as new law approaches
A new law about to come into effect in Japan has forced Airbnb to cancel a number of bookings, causing serious disruption for many travelers. The incoming law stipulates that hosts have to apply for a special permit to operate, but many are still dealing with the paperwork.
Driverless cars: Waymo eyes Europe for launch of robot taxi services
Having achieved seven million miles of tests on public roads in the U.S., Waymo says it's now looking to introduce its autonomous-car technology in Europe. The company's boss said this week that it already has officials there investigating how local regulations might affect its efforts.
Emirates moves toward windowless planes, starts with first-class seats
Emirates president Tim Clark says he sees "absolutely no reason" why passenger planes can't be built with virtual windows instead of real ones, offering better fuel economy. It has just introduced new jets featuring the high-tech windows in first class, with pictures live-streamed from external cameras.
These astronauts will whiz around Earth 34 times before reaching space station
Three astronauts will whiz around Earth a total of 34 times before reaching the space station on Friday. It usually requires far fewer orbits, but various positioning requirements mean it's going to take a little longer this time. The astronauts will join three crew members for a stay of six months.
Firefox lets you test new features for side-by-side views and customizing colors
Love Firefox? You might love it even more now that you can open two tabs side by side and customize it with colors and textures. Side View and Colors are currently being offered via Mozilla's Test Pilot program, which lets you try out and give feedback on new features being considered by the browser's developers.
Weird photography: Game Boy Camera meets Canon telephoto lens
Curious about what kind of shots he'd get if he fixed a Canon telephoto lens to his Game Boy Camera, designer Bastiaan Ekeler set about building a mount to make it happen. Despite the poor quality of the display, Ekeler was able produce viewable results that may actually surprise you.
SpaceX says it won’t send space tourists around the moon just yet
SpaceX said in 2017 that it planned to send two high-paying space tourists on a trip around the moon by the end of this year. Well, it's not going to happen — at least, not yet. Without giving a specific reason for the delay, the company said the mission won't take place until mid-2019 at the earliest.
Kodak shows off the first test photos shot on its new Ektachrome film
Whether for old-timers who love their 35mm film camera or newbies keen to explore what film photography has to offer, Kodak's relaunch of its once-popular Ektachrome 100 film for color transparencies will be of interest. The company is showing off the first shots from the film, which should launch soon.
EU’s new data protection law being used as bedtime story by meditation app
Have trouble sleeping? Need a soothing bedtime story? How about listening to someone read the EU's new GDPR data protection law? Meditation app Calm has added "Once Upon a GDPR" to its collection of soporific Sleep Stories, and believes that it could be your best chance yet to beat insomnia.
Airbnb is the latest to crib from Snapchat with ‘Travel Stories’
Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube have all done it, and now Airbnb has joined the club. We're talking about the trial launch of its own version of Snapchat Stories, a feature that lets Airbnb users build short presentations of their travel experiences for others to enjoy — which could lead to more bookings.
Waymo orders a huge number of self-driving cars for robot taxi services
Waymo has ordered a huge number of self-driving cars for its planned robot taxi service. It currently has 600 autonomous Chrysler Pacifica minivans on the road, but it's just ordered another 62,000. Yes, you read that right: 62,000. It's not clear when they'll be ready, or how it plans to deploy all of them.
Drones are helping efforts to free whales from dangerous marine debris
A whale-protection group in Hawaii has teamed up with a nonprofit group that uses drones to protect ocean environments. They are using camera-equipped quadcopters to fly over whales entangled in marine debris, with the livestreamed footage providing the rescue team with vital data.
You can put your name down for the Atari VCS, but it won’t arrive until 2019
Atari fans, you can now put your name down for the retro VCS console featuring more than 100 classic games, as well as a bunch of other features that weren't even around when the machine first hit stores in the late 1970s. You'll have to be patient though, as shipping won't begin until spring 2019 at the earliest.
Drone-delivered meals come to Shanghai, but they’re dropped off by … a human?
When city roads are clogged with traffic, meal delivery services can suffer, with food arriving at customers' doors late ... and cold. A service in Shanghai has taken to the skies to speed up deliveries, employing drones along fixed routes as part of a setup that also keeps its delivery drivers in work.
Amazon delivery drone may use lights and music when it shows up at your home
Amazon noted in its latest patent that its customers "may be alarmed or confused" when one of its noisy delivery drones approaches their house. With that in mind, the company proposes fitting its drone with lights, speakers, and even a projector to help the flying machine communicate with the customer.
High-tech search for Malaysia Airlines passenger plane ends in disappointment
The latest effort to find the Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared four years ago has ended in disappointment. Despite using highly advanced seabed exploration technology, the effort by Texas-based Ocean Infinity failed to locate the aircraft, which went down with 239 passengers and crew on board.
US sees drop in TV set ownership for first time in 20 years
A report to be published today will show that for the first time in 20 years, household ownership of television sets in the US has dropped.
This camera melted during a rocket launch, but it’s not what it seems
NASA photographer Bill Ingalls set up a bunch of cameras on May 22 to capture images of SpaceX's latest rocket launch. With lots of experience with such events, he knew exactly where to put them. But while the cameras closest to the rocket were all fine, one that was farther back melted. So what happened?
Uber shutters self-driving project in Arizona two months after fatal accident
Uber has ended autonomous-car tests in Arizona two months after one of its robot vehicles struck and killed a pedestrian there. The firm will take a new approach when it resumes trials in Pittsburgh and San Francisco, that it says will let it "hone the safety aspects of our software and operating procedures."
Tread carefully if you return a lot of products to Amazon
Amazon uses software to highlight suspicious activity on its enormous shopping site, but sometimes it takes action based on the data. A news report this week highlights how a number of customers have had their accounts shut down without warning, apparently for having returned too many items.
Lyft may join the party by putting its own electric scooters in San Francisco
As if the city doesn't already have enough of them, ridesharing firm Lyft is reportedly looking into the idea of launching an electric-scooter service in San Francisco. Operated via its app, riders would hop aboard the scooter for short trips around the city before leaving them for the next user.
TeenSafe phone-monitoring app leaks ‘tens of thousands’ of accounts
A server operated by phone-tracking service TeenSafe is reported to have leaked account information belonging to "tens of thousands" of its users. Of particular concern is that the exposed data — linked to parents and children who use the service — is believed to have been stored in plaintext form.
Another smart luggage startup packs its bags following stricter airline rules
Smart-luggage maker Raden has folded after airlines clamped down on battery transport. The New York startup said the new battery-related rules "severely impacted the usefulness of our products, their value to our customers, our business performance, and ultimately the ability to continue operating."
‘Truck Hotel’ is an amazing double-decker pad for surfers
A truck converted into a hotel? Whatever will they think of next? The Truck Surf Hotel does exactly what it says on the tin, transporting vacationing surfers to new beaches every day while offering all the comforts of a regular hotel. The four-bedroom pad is currently tootling between sites in Portugal and Morocco.