Hasta La Gadget!

Look, up in the sky. It’s a bird, it’s a plane — it’s… a lifeguard? Aiming to keep a robotic eye out for distressed swimmers and dangerous marine life, Surf Life Saving Australia will soon deploy flying safety drones across beaches in Queensland, Australia. Starting off on a trial basis, the unmanned bots have a wingspan of one meter (about three feet) and will feature detachable safety buoys and alert sirens. While it could be the next thing in oceanside safety, we’d image that some folks won’t be too fond of being watched sans any say in the matter. That said, we’d be remiss not to mention to that SLS head Brett Williamson frankly stated to ABC that “at the end of the day this is about public safety.” Big brother conspiracy aside, we’re sure some folks could be swayed if these bad boys play Flight of the Valkyries while in formation.

[Image credit: Kim Powell]

Filed under: Science

UAV Lifeguards to patrol Australian beaches, Hasselhoff given notice originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 16:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The days of obnoxious, crowded air-travel are still here for most of us, but the elite just got an upgrade. Boeing just started putting out a version of its Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) 747-8 that sports the Aeroloft, an eight-person sleeping area. More »

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At this point, MIT isn’t specifying the exact applications for their design, but beyond military and rescue operations, I REALLY want to see a consumer version so I can stop crashing my AR.Drone.

Thanks to a collaboration with PromoJam and Rock the Vote, Virgin America passengers will be able to register to vote while flying. In theory, you just point your smartphone at the touchscreen and fill out a form. If that sounds too good to be true, well, it sort of is. More »