Sophie Turner, Jonathan Van Ness Meeting For The First Time Is Emotional AF

The duo ran into one another backstage at the 2019 MTV VMAs and there was SO MUCH HUGGING.

Eero's expanded router subscriptions focus on security

Amazon-owned Eero is introducing two new subscription plans in the US to complement its popular mesh WiFi routers. The first, Eero Secure, replaces the company’s previous Eero Plus add-on. It features added parental controls and promises to protect y…

Lucid’s drone is built to clean the outside of your house or office

Building exteriors tend to get gross. Dirt clings to the walls. Windows get filmy. Spiderwebs amass. If you live in a particularly humid area, mold and mildew can start to make exterior walls look like a science experiment.

On taller buildings, scrubbing it all off generally means bringing a bucket truck, scaffolding or suspension gear and having a crew hang from the side of the building. It’s a lot of prep work, with a lot of potential for falls and injuries. Lucid, a new company out of North Carolina, has a different approach: drones.

Rather than pressure washing, their drone “soft washes” the building — be it a house, an office or the campus library — by spraying a cleaning solution that the company says is biodegradable and works on surfaces like brick and limestone. The operator rolls up to a site, unfolds the drone, powers it up, then plugs it into a tank sitting in the back of their work truck. A hose tether runs from the tank to the drone at all times, feeding the low-pressure sprayer while keeping the bulk of the weight down on the ground. The operator handles the drone via remote control.

The drone is currently battery-powered; in the future, Lucid plans to work tethered power into the design. The company tells me the drone is currently designed/tested to clean buildings up to 120 feet tall. That’s around 10-12 stories tall, depending on the building’s design.

While their early tests were done with off-the-shelf drones, Lucid tells me it’s now custom-building its own; they need to be able to carry the weight of the tether, fly slowly for finer controls and easier operation and stay light enough (under 55 lbs) that it fits within the FAA’s small unmanned aircraft guidelines. The company tells me their drone weighs around 25-30 lbs, depending on payload requirements.

Lucid co-founder Andrew Ashur says they originally set out to be the service provider, hiring operators and cleaning the buildings themselves. When they began testing the concept and other companies started reaching out, the team realized they might be better off selling the drone itself. They’re now starting to rent the drones to companies for $3,000 per month, which includes support, training and maintenance (because, as any hobbyist drone pilot could tell you, things break).

Lucid is part of Y Combinator’s Summer 2019 batch. As of YC Demo Day last week, the company noted that it had signed contracts worth around $33,000 per month in recurring revenue.

Ashur tells me that while they’re considering a nationwide rollout, their focus right now is on the southeastern United States — it’s where they started, and where mold and mildew issues are common.

World of Warcraft Classic has been a very wholesome experience so far

World of Warcraft Classic has been widely available for a little under a day now, and for many people, a lot of that time has been spent contending with mind-numbingly long queue times. Right off the bat, the WoW Classic experience emulates that of 2004 WoW pretty well. Obviously, long queue times can be nostalgic, but once you actually get … Continue reading

Restock Your Closet While Jachs's Chinos Are Only $35

Men’s Chino Pants | $35 | Jachs

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Amazon Alexa gets in-depth NFL knowledge for 2019 football season

Just ahead of the 2019 NFL football season comes an update from Amazon. The company has announced that its Alexa personal assistant has received a knowledge update revolving around the popular American sport, enabling it to offer users more ‘comprehensive, in-depth’ stats related to NFL teams and players, according to the company. The personal assistant can now also offer details … Continue reading

Hey, Remember When Star Trek Did Galaxy's Edge, 20 Years Before Star Wars?

This week, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opens in Walt Disney World, bringing an unprecedented theme park experience to the citizens of Orlando, Florida. Eat the food and drink of a galaxy far, far away! Hop aboard an iconic Star Wars ship! Live in a fantastical world, populated by people in character, an immersive…

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Joined by Pete Buttigieg, Drivers Blockade Roadway Outside Uber Headquarters

To a steady beat of whistles, car horns, and “AB5 and a union!” hundreds of rideshare drivers amassed outside Uber’s corporate headquarters in San Fransisco this afternoon. For over an hour, Market Street has slowed to a crawl, choked by the cars of for-hire vehicle drivers.

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I'll Take This Custom Handheld Sega Dreamcast Over the Switch Lite Any Day

While everyone is oohing and aahing over the Nintendo Switch Lite today, I’d rather throw $200 at YouTube’s GmanModz to build me this fully functional Sega Dreamcast that’s been cut down and miniaturized to squeeze inside of a portable housing that’s about the size of the 2DS.

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Former Uber Executive Indicted, Accused Of Stealing Trade Secrets

Anthony Levandowski is accused of stealing Waymo docs while he worked there as an engineer, then taking them to Uber.