Jan 30
When Rodrigo Diaz set out to pick up his friends and go ice skating, he was in high spirits. But when his GPS navigation system took him and some friends to the wrong house, he was assumed to be an intruder—and shot dead. More »
Jan 30
GoPro cameras are great for capturing race-track or extreme sports footage, but Lehmann Aviation wants to take the compact camcorders to the sky with the new autonomous LA100 UAV drones. Designed for those who want to capture bird-level footage but don’t have time to learn how to fly a glider or other aircraft, the LA100 is fully automatic and follows a preset flight-plan at 80-100m height, coming straight back after its finished the loop.
Along the way it’s gathering footage from the GoPro, which can be mounted either on the top of the drone for forward-facing shots, or underneath for a view of the ground as it whizzes past. The LA100 can in face support two cameras simultaneously, despite weighing in at 850g.
The predominantly carbon fiber and foam wing is 92cm across, and it can fly in conditions of -25 degrees centigrade to 60 degrees centigrade, and even if there’s a strong prevailing wind. Maximum flight time is five minutes, with a range of up to half a kilometer, and it’s launched by simply tossing it forward into the air.
Lehmann Aviation is asking €990 ($1,338) for the LA100 UAV – though that doesn’t include a GoPro camera – which is a whole lot less than the company’s more professional drones. More detail in the video below.
[via Designboom]
Lehmann Aviation LA100 drone takes GoPro to new autonomous heights is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jan 30
Pen Sized Scanner
Posted in: Today's Chili
You know, the scanner is one computer peripheral that you wish you had purchased when you didn’t need it, only to find yourself ringing up a mate late into the night, asking him whether he could open up the doors of his home so that you can drop by and perform that necessary scan. Older scanners of yore tend to be large, bulky and noisy – not to mention slow, of course, but it is a good thing that modern day technology has ushered in the age of miniaturization, shrinking down what was once rather large scanners into a pocket-friendly form factor. Case in point, the $124.95 Pen Sized Scanner.
The Pen Sized Scanner works as its name suggests – this is a ballpoint pen which allows you to leave your John Hancock on important documents, while also being able to laser-scan documents in a jiffy. The scanning bit is handled by a high-precision auto-focus lens, where it is accompanied by a 5-megapixel sensor that has been integrated into the pen itself, letting it scan letters, recipes, or important documents at 2048 x 1536 pixel resolution. Whenever you press the shutter button down halfway, a visible red laser will be projected to frame a document, as it focuses on the image automatically before snapping a photo. Sporting 1GB of internal memory, it is good for up to 1,000 scanned pictures in JPEG format and also being able to hold 1,000 1-minute voice memos in WAV format. A single hour’s charge offers up to 300 scans if you’re interested.
[ Pen Sized Scanner copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Jan 30
BlackBerry Z10 tipped to come only in black at launch, white edition to arrive February 15th
Posted in: Today's Chili 
We’ve had a note in from a well-placed friend who says that RIM’s BlackBerry Z10 will only debut in Henry Ford’s favorite color: black. Those looking for a white-tinted fruity smartphone will apparently have to wait until February 15th before being able to splash their hard-earned. Either way, as we’re but a few short minutes away from Thorsten Heins’ big moment, we won’t have long to wait for confirmation.
[Thanks, Anonymous]
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, RIM
Jan 30
Where will you drink beer while rooting for the Ravens this Sunday?
The Redskins had their best season in over a decade. But it’s over. Thankfully, a team that plays only 40 miles away is in the Super Bowl.
Kickoff for Super Bowl XLVII, matching the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers, is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Read More…
More on DC Around Town
Jan 30
Dow Nears 14,000, On Way To 36,000, Obviously: Seven And A Half Things To Know
Posted in: Today's ChiliScience has determined that people need to know 7.5 things per day, on average, about the world of business. You can’t argue with science. Lucky for you, The Huffington Post has an email newsletter, delivered first thing every weekday morning, boiling down the day’s biggest business news into the 7.5 things you absolutely need to know. And we’re giving it away free, because we love you, and also science. Here you go:
Thing One: The Phantom Panic: Dow 36,000, here we come!
When the market opens this morning, the Dow Jones Industrial Average will be less than 50 points away from the nice, round number 14,000, a level it hasn’t seen since 2007, when the financial crisis was in its infancy. From there, it’ll be just a short climb to its all-time high of 14,164.53. Econo-nerds may argue that we should adjust the Dow for inflation and therefore we’re not as close to a record as we think we are, but those people will be ignored because shut up, nerds. After that, it’s certainly only a matter of time before James Glassman and Kevin Hassett of “Dow 36,000” fame can finally end their long reign as the clown princes of stock prognostication, along with Donald Luskin.
Read More…
More on Mark Gongloff on Money
Jan 30
5.3-inch Spice Stellar Pinnacle Mi-530 hits India with a piquant 5MP front-facing camera
Posted in: Today's Chili 
The large phone juggernaut rolls on with word on yet another contender raising its head in India, this time from the Spice stable. While the headline-grabbing 5-megapixel front camera may not be a world first, the Stellar Pinnacle Mi-530 rocks some decent specs for its Rs 13,999 ($260) asking price. The 5.3-inch qHD (960 x 540) IPS display hides a 1.2GHz dual-core chip, 1GB of RAM, 16GB storage, a microSD slot, dual-SIM support and an 8-megapixel rear snapper, all powered by a beefy 2,550mAh battery. We’d have preferred a more recent version of Mountain View’s mobile OS instead of the Android 4.0 that the smartphone ships with, but it does attempt to spice up the offering with a bunch of software tricks, including Popup Play and Direct Call. Hardly ground-breaking, but hey, at least self-portrait addicts can indulge themselves without their hands tied.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Jan 30
WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was shot in the head in the Jan. 2011 shootings in Tucson, Ariz., will give opening remarks in Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence, a source confirmed to The Huffington Post.
Mark Kelly, Giffords’ husband, was already scheduled to testify in the hearing, but the news of Giffords’ testimony was previously unannounced.
Wednesday’s hearing is the first congressional hearing focused on gun violence since the December shootings at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school. It is also sure to be dramatic: Seated alongside Giffords and Kelly will be Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association.
Read More…
More on Gabrielle Giffords
Jan 30
Ten Things Not To Say After Sex According To ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ (EXCERPT)
Posted in: Today's ChiliFrom MUCH ADO ABOUT LOVING by Jack Murnighan and Maura Kelly. Copyright © 2012 by Maura Kelly and Jack Murnighan. Reprinted by permission of Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Arm in arm, legs entwined, sweat beading on the marmoreal perfection of the human form, the dance of love just brought to its exquisite denouement, the Marlboro smoked, the snifter sipped dry, and now…
Jan 30
NASA and other space agencies around the world are always on the lookout for giant asteroids headed towards the Earth. NASA recently reported that a gigantic and very fast asteroid will zip past the Earth on February 15. The asteroid is called 2012 DA14.
The massive asteroid weighs approximately 143,000 tons and measures 148 feet long. That means that the asteroid is roughly half the size of a football field. According to scientists Don Yeoman this massive asteroid is similar to the one believed to have leveled hundreds of square miles of Siberian forest back in 1908.
That massive impact is called the “Tunguska Event.” According to NASA, this particular asteroid will pass harmlessly by the Earth. However, on a cosmic scale it is passing quite close to our planet. NASA estimates the asteroid will pass 17,200 miles above the earth.
The asteroid flyby will be close enough that skywatchers with a decent backyard telescope should be able to view the asteroid says NASA. However, the speed of the asteroid will make it hard to track with NASA saying that it will move twice the width of the moon across the sky for every minute that it’s visible.
[via USA Today]
Giant asteroid will buzz the Earth on February 15 is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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