Pocket Drone Review and Features

Pocket Drone  is an other completed project with the help of Kickstarter-funds. Its a fold-able, flying "multi-copter" that its creators titled it "The GoPro of drones." It's a tiny ( small in size as compare to other) drone and equipped with a high quality action camera capable of recording 1080 HD video or capture  photos and a rechargeable battery of 20 minutes of flights.

This Pocket Drone can be folded up to the size of a small tablet for portability. One of its outstanding feature is autopilot / follow me that allows your drone to capture your moments automatically.

"Till now, mostly people are not participating in the revolution of this awesome new technology - the cost was too great, the drones are too bulky and the software is too difficult to operate," says creators Timothy Reuter, TJ Johnson and Chance Roth wrote on their Kickstarter page.

The creators claim that their drone design is easy enough to use: It can be unpacked and launched within just 20 seconds and can be easily operated by your smartphone, an included remote, a third-party RC controller or tablet with a USB port. Additionally, the software is open source, so hackers or developers of this category can add their own fun features to enhance the ability of this pocket drone.

The Kickstarter campaign presents the Pocket Drone as a relatively inexpensive tool for aerial photographers and videographers, as it's cheaper than your average DSLR camera. Backers can purchase a Pocket Drone for $445 without a controller, or $495 for the full package.

The Pocket Drone campaign finishes funding on March 9, and has already raised more than $300,000, far surpassing its goal of $35,000.

Russian Drones Army

The U.S.’s drones have been a constant fixture on the news as of late, but it turns out that Uncle Sam’s not the only one with a lineup of drones. 

Apparently Russia is also slowly building an army of drones that is if recent pictures have anything to say about it. What would Russia do with a drone army? Your guess is as good as mine, but they probably don’t exist to make friends with other drones. As some of the pictures show, Russia’s drones can move over land and over sea. It’s probably not too big of a stretch to say that some of them can even move throughout the air as well.

Just What Do You Think That Drone Is For?

It has already been reported that many believe robot soldiers will outnumber humans by the year 2023. Robots are even now being developed that can do everything humans can do and supposedly more. With all of this news of drones everywhere you look, that doesn’t seem as hard to believe as it may once have been. The earth may be laid to rest under the attack of drones.

It’s unknown how many drones there are in the world, but I believe it’s safe to say there are many, many that we have no idea about. Maybe it’s better that way, I don’t know. What do you think? Does this news of drones alarm you at all?

source: TechBeat

Smartkey to Unlock Your Hotel Room

Yes, its not a joke Starwood app is being used by Starwood Hotels & Resorts and If you're staying at the Aloft Hotel in New York City or Silicon Valley, you'll soon be able to use your smartphone as your room key.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide is adding a "virtual room key" to its Starwood app that enables NFC in your smartphone to connect your room lock.

Instead of waiting after a long line to get your key from the front desk of hotel, users can check in and set their payment method on the app. The app then becomes your room key. The Bluetooth connection in the phone connects to a sensor on the door that activates the lock. The locks are battery-powered, meaning they will work even if a hotel's computer system goes down.

Starwood's CEO Frits van Paasschen told The Wall Street Journal that he believes this new feature will "become the new standard for how people will want to enter a hotel." He concedes that the idea might "be a novelty at first" but said he thinks "it will become table stakes for managing a hotel."

The technology works using Bluetooth and will work with any iPhone 4S or higher, and Android phones running Android 4.3 or newer.

This isn't the first time using a smartphone as a room key has been discussed. As far back at 2010, Apple filed patents for using the iPhone in various travel and retail scenarios.

Starwood is going to pilot the program in its Aloft hotels in Cupertino, Calif., and Harlem, N.Y., hotels in 2014, but hopes to roll the feature out to all of its Aloft and W hotels by the end of 2015.

For those users that still want the more traditional check-in experience, that will remain an option.

New Frames For Google Glass, Prescription Lenses

Though Google glass's main appeal lies in the camera and the smart circuitry located above the right eye, at the end of the day smart-glasses are still glasses, and users would like to have options when it comes to frames and lenses.

Well, now they do. Google has announced the Titanium Collection for Google Glass, with four new extra-light titanium frames as well as two new styles of twist-on shades.

The new frame styles, which functions pretty much as your regular prescription frames, are named Split, Thin, Bold and Curve. Twist on shades are now available in a total of three varieties: Edge, Classic and Active. And even if you're not entirely satisfied with the choice, worry not: Google claims more styles will be coming.

The new styles will be available to Explorers (users who've participated in the Google Glass beta program) as a $225 upgrade option Tuesday afternoon. Qualified users who need prescription lenses and have vision insurance from VSP can get subsidized frames and lenses.
Source: Mashable

Moto X Coming to Europe in February 2014

Motorola's flagship smartphone, the Moto X, will hit European store shelves in February, CNET reports.

The pricing will be $624 in the UK or $546 in France and Germany without a contract. That's significantly more than in the U.S., where the device sells for $399. However, Europeans are accustomed to big price differences when buying U.S.-made phones.

In the UK, customers will also be able to get the phone with a contract, starting $41 per month. It will be available from retailers such as Amazon, Phones 4U, Carphone Warehouse, O2 and Techdata.

The Moto X runs Android 4.2.2. It sports a 4.7-inch 720p AMOLED screen, a 1.7GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM, 16 or 32 GB of storage, a 2,200mAh battery and a 10.5-megapixel camera. - Mashable

5 in 1 Action Camera by Sony

The Sony HDR-AS100V is really 5 action cams in one, or a minimum of it may be. whereas the camera works simply fine mounted to a helmet or shoulder, it extremely levels-up the expertise after you have a bunch of all networked via an optional wrist controller.

Up to 5 cameras may be "meshed" during this means, letting the user alter the footage captured by every cam. The cameras themselves ar splash-proof, and may capture video at up to 1080p at 24 frames per second. At 720p, they'll record in film at a hundred and twenty Federal Protective Service or perhaps super-slow at 240 Federal Protective Service.

With multiple cameras and also the RM-LVR1 wrist controller, extreme videographers might mount cameras everywhere the body, or many bodies, to create some seriously artistic footage. The provided Play Memories software system has tools for merging material from multiple cams, creating split-screens straightforward. The footage even has time codes, though you will need a professional suite (such as Sony Vegas) to use them. The cameras' aboard GPS will integrate map views, too.

Built into the camera is Sony's Steady Shot image stabilization, which can adjust to the different kinds of vibration that goes hand in hand with action videography, whether it's gentle bumps on a ski run or the constant rumble of a motorcycle.

I got a little hands-on time with Sony's tiny but powerful action cam, as well as the wrist mount, and they're pretty fun. The camera itself is remarkably lightweight, and the white finish is pretty. Since the footage is relayed wirelessly, there's a slight but perceptible delay in the camera view on the wrist monitor, but it worked well with no dropouts.

The AS100V will be available in March. Each action cam costs $299.99, and a bundle with the wrist controller is $399.99, so a full five-camera system will set you back about $1,600. Steep, but if you get some friends in on the action, you can split the cost.

Lifeband Touch: LG Fitness Wristband Tracker

Here is a wearable gadget "Fitness Wristband Tracker" that LG announced at the 2014 International CES show, a version of its own with with some little changing in design with a touchscreen interface.

Here is a wearable gadget "Fitness Wristband Tracker" that LG announced at the 2014 International CES show, a version of its own with with some little changing in design with a touchscreen interface.

Called the LG Lifeband Touch, the device tracks distance walked, speed, calories and other typical data collected by activity trackers, but it also comes with an OLED display, manages incoming calls and can be used to control your music. 

This data can be accessed by swiping a finger over the display, similar to how you would use a

touchscreen; tablet or smartphone.

With the help of a motion-sensing algorithm, the device automatically turns on the display when the user rotates their wrist.

But one of the most compelling parts of the Lifeband Touch is how it connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth to receive data from third party devices, including the company's new heart rate earphones.
Images: LG