Tech Facts

The Best HEPA Air Purifier

2017-10-16T11:24:00.001-07:00

What is CADR?

Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) is the rating method assigned by the Association of Home Appliances Manufacturers. It portrays the apt suggestion of which air purifier is considered best depends on the size of the room. The five purifiers were tested out that guaranteed to clean around 360 sq. feet of tobacco smoke, dust, and pollen. I’ve considered the opinion of air specialists and physicians about the importance of HEPA filters before picking up the top two choices.

Best Choice:

· Winix 5500-2 Air Cleaner with PlasmaWave Technology

Second Best Choice:

· Coway 4-Stage Filtration System with Air Quality Indicator

The Coway (top) has a nearly identical filtering system as the Winix (bottom).

What’s the need of it?

Studies conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows that the air inside a home could be 4-5 times more contaminated than the air outside of the house. It is highly beneficial for patients suffering from Asthma or has an allergy. It is also beneficial for people living near a highway or other highly polluted area. These air purifiers use fans to cycle air through a series of filters to soak in the impurities and provide people with clean air to breathe in. But how do we know which filter would be the best choice? That all comes down to High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) and to make sure that it would fulfill the requirement of the size of the room to work optimally.

Why is Winix 5500-2 Air Cleaner with PlasmaWave Technology the best choice?

In reality, it was nearly impossible to distinguish between the two top choices. The performance is almost the same. The costs, in the long run, would even out. It’s just that Winix’s lower up-front costs and higher quality construction have made it to the top. Pre-filters are nearly the same with the same HEPA filters as their basic filters and special kind of charcoal filter to absorb distinct smells.

The sound registered at 61-64 decibels at maximum and usually silent in normal circumstances. Both the air purifiers have sensors and timers to measure air purity, with LED lights that shift from blue to red depends on the contamination of the air. On an auto setting, Winix uses its fan at the lowest when air quality is good, whereas Coway’s Eco setting just turns its fans off completely.

But there are also some differences among our top two picks. The advertising campaigns of both the purifiers make a unique differentiation between both of the purifiers. Winix claims in its advertisement that is “instantly neutralize airborne viruses, bacteria, chemical vapors, odors, and gases”, whereas Coway’s advertisers only seem to claim that its vital ion filter would only freshen the air. But the marketing slogans and techniques don't actually make them different than the other ones. But another major difference is that Winix actually priced itself $50 cheaper than the Coway, and we’ve seen its retail price for $100 less at Home Depot and on Amazon.

The other difference is related to looks and maintenance but even that isn't big of a difference. I would prefer the matte charcoal Winix as compared to the glossy Coway. Although the Coway is cuter in an alien-TV sort of way, the taller, slimmer Winix ended up a more discreet room addition.

The opening of Winix was easy. The cover uses magnets to snap in and out of place and all the filters lock inside the next — the shape of all the pieces of filters is different altogether. This is not the case with the Coway, as it takes a couple of tries to put the front back on after you remove it. It’s not entirely difficult, but if you’re taking it apart every two weeks to clean then the Coway is more of a hassle.

From left to right: The Winix U450, the GermGuardian AC9200WCA, the Honeywell HPA300, the Winix 5500-2, and the Coway 4-Stage Filtration System.

How much would the other three air purifiers cost you?

After comparing the features with the prices of five purifiers, the three was simply eliminated because of the somewhat unreasonable high price.

The Winix U450 (priced: $440) is slim and have a glossy white color, and the distinguished part is that its filters fit into a frame compared to the Winix 5500-2 whose filters you just measure one on top of the other inside the unit. But what the price is all about is 450 square feet of coverage, a full 100 more than the Winix 5500-2, and a pre-filter treated with Antimicrobial CleanCell Protection, which helps the reproduction of bacteria, fungi, and other polluted hazards.

Air purifier GermGuardian AC9200WCA (priced: $360) is just 18 extra square feet short in coverage than our best choices, but makes up for it in early-’90s Apple aesthetics and doubling down on germ phobia. It includes UV-C light technology, considered viable to eliminate microbes, but the jury is not convinced on its effectiveness.

The air purifier Honeywell was consistently recommended by our experts, and the Honeywell HPA300 (priced: $300 and $180 exclusively on Amazon) excels on paper. Its CADR ratings qualify it for the coverage of 465 square feet. But having this purifier, people would be only paying for the size of the air purifier and nothing else. The plastic grill can be snapped in half while trying to take it on and off. Another drawback is an unresponsive touch panel, and the same charcoal and HEPA filters as similar as of our best choices.

Source: Reviews

Confederate partners with Zero Motorcycles to go electric

2017-09-02T11:56:00.000-07:00

After 23 years of creating unique high-end customs, Confederate Motors will rebrand as Curtiss Motor Company and turn its focus to building electric motorcycles in co-operation with Zero. At the same time, Confederate unveiled what might be its last petrol-powered bike, the FA-13 Combat Bomber.

Confederate Motors made its name by designing and hand-building impressive and quite expensive custom motorcycles in limited quantities. Since the 1994 F131 Hellcat, the first model to roll out of its workshop in New Orleans, the company managed to stay afloat through all kinds of hardship. Bankruptcy in 2001, damaged facilities by hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the ensuing relocation a year later to Birmingham in the neighboring state of Alabama didn't stop Confederate from selling out its limited annual production, despite the fact that its cheapest model cost more than US$50,000.

During the unveiling of its latest custom at the Quail Motorsports Gathering, Matt Chambers, Confederate's founder and president, revealed that his company's future lies in electric motorcycles.

"We can't go any further than this, we've hit the ceiling," Chambers said to the Los Angeles Times. The next motorcycle to come from Confederate will be called Hercules, it will run on two electric motors from Zero Motorcycles, and will be reportedly produced in the latter's facility in California.

It won't even bear Confederate's logo, as the name will also change to Curtiss Motor Company. Apart from paying an obvious tribute to Glenn Curtiss, the American aviation pioneer and holder of the first ever land speed record, the rebranding echoes Chambers' marketing woes.

"I think we lost a lot a business with that name. We've missed out on branding opportunities. So, it's time to retire it," explained Chambers.

Instead of an appellation that can easily be misinterpreted as endorsing a certain part of the political spectrum, the new branding refers to a legendary man who is undisputedly recognized in USA, and mirrors ideally the kind of craftsmanship and technology that Confederate describes as the "art of rebellion."

In view of this news, the newly unveiled FA-13 Combat Bomber might be a bit more than just another take on Confederate's luxury power cruiser, the P51 Combat Fighter. As the name suggests, the new model will be built in only 13 examples, each priced at a jaw-dropping $155,000.

The almost 40 grand it costs over the P51 buys a series of cosmetic changes, such as drilled and carved frame elements, leather seat, red exhausts and matte black finish, as well as the limited status of its very small production run. It also includes a brand new air filter structure that will be available to retro-fit on the P51 as well.

Although Confederate hasn't released any technical details of the FA-13, the main running gear of the P51 is probably unchanged, including the main frame that is carved form a solid block of aerospace-grade 6061 aluminum. The engine also appears to be the same, a 132 ci (2,163 cc) 56-degree air-cooled V-twin that evolved over the years from an S&S X-Wedge unit, putting out some 200 hp (149 kW) and 170 lb-ft (230.5 Nm) in the latest P51 version via Confederate's proprietary CX4 transmission.

Above all though, the dizzying price tag reflects the mere fact that this is probably the last gas-powered motorcycle from Confederate's workshop, and the last one to bear its current logo.

Source: Newatlas , Confederate Motors

Machine gun-holding drone threatens to change combat forever

2017-08-20T01:37:00.000-07:00

In 2015, a video showing a semi-automatic handgun being fired from a custom-built drone went viral, raising concerns for authorities, including the FAA. The development of such a DIY device was only a matter of time, as was the commercialization of the technology. Now Florida-based startup Duke Robotics has unveiled the TIKAD, a custom-built multirotor that can carry and fire various military weapons, including semi-automatic rifles and grenade launchers.

Duke Robotics is co-founded by Raziel Atuar, a former Special Mission Unit commander in the Israel Defense Force who was inspired to develop this drone system after experiencing the difficulty of battling terrorist agents that operate within civilian populations. As we have seen in recent years, shooting missiles into populated areas frequently results in horrific collateral damage.

"The primary solution you are left with is sending in ground troops – but this shifts the risk to your troops, which often leads to injuries and casualties," says Atuar. "But, we thought, 'what if there was a better way'."

TIKAD has been in development for several years and an early prototype, based on a consumer drone, was successfully deployed by the Israeli military to take out a target in 2015. Since then, the device has been refined and a proprietary stabilization system has been developed to absorb any recoil from the firing of a weapon.

In an interview with Defense One, Atuar states the current device can carry and fire a variety of different weapons up to a weight of 22 lb (10 kg), and the accompanying promotional video shows how the drone is remotely operated. A human still needs to be on the other end to control the drone and weapon – at least for now.

The idea of reducing both civilian and military casualties through the deployment of weaponized drones is, on one hand, an appealing prospect, but it's also undeniable that the idea of a fleet of drones with machine guns flying through the air is absolutely horrifying.

The company is still seeking investors to expand its operations, but reportsclaim the Israeli military has already put in an order for an undisclosed number of the drones, and the company is pitching the system to the US military as well.

Take a look at the TIKAD in (mostly computer-generated) action in the video below.

Source: Newatlas , Duke Robotics

Orii smart ring turns your finger into an earpiece

2017-08-01T06:44:00.002-07:00

While modern Bluetooth earpieces are more compact than ever, chances are you'll still need to leave at least one stuck in your ear. This can get uncomfortable over time, not to mention the dorkiness that's been haunting this form factor since day one. Hong Kong startup Origami Labs thinks it has an alternative solution to this problem: why not repackage the Bluetooth earpiece as a ring, and then use bone conduction to transmit audio to the fingertip? That's the basic concept behind the Orii smart ring.

Using bone conduction for audio transmission is hardly a new idea. It's a commonly used technology in the hearing aid market, as this transmits sound directly to the inner ear, thus bypassing hearing issues caused by the middle or outer ear. But most of us know bone conduction better in the form of wireless headphones -- most notably the ones from AfterShokz, which let you enjoy music or take calls while leaving your ears open for the sake of safety.

It's a similar use case with the Orii: you wear the ring on your index finger, and when it vibrates with an incoming call, simply lift your hand up, touch your fingertip on a sweet spot just before your ear, then chat away. An earlier crowdfunding project, the Sgnl smart strap (formerly TipTalk) by Korea's Innomdle Lab, had the same idea, but it has yet to ship to backers long after its February target date this year.

The Orii is essentially an aluminum ring melded to a small package containing all the electronics. The main body on the latest working prototype came in at roughly 30 mm long, 20 mm wide and 12 mm thick. These figures don't do Orii any justice, as its curved design makes it look smaller than it sounds. At least I'd be fine with wearing it for a while, depending on how comfortable the final design feels.

It's pretty impressive when you consider what's housed inside the splash-proof ring: a dual Bluetooth 4.0 radio with Bluetooth Low Energy support, dual-mic noise cancellation, a gyroscope, an LED (for customizable notifications in the app), a 50 mAh battery and, most importantly, a bone conduction actuator near the bottom side of the main body. It's worth pointing out that the seemingly tiny battery provides about 1.5 hours of continuous listening time and at least 40 hours of standby time, both of which should be plenty for general daily use.

Much like some of the latest Bluetooth earpieces these days, Orii supports both iPhone's Siri and Android's Google Assistant, meaning you can simply wave your hand up, stick your fingertip to near your ear and start talking to your voice assistant right away. I can imagine this gesture becoming an excuse for me to use voice assistant more often, mainly because this feels like a more natural way of interacting with my virtual assistant.

But on a more serious note, CEO Kevin Wong sees this screen-free input method serving a greater purpose for those in need -- especially his father, Peter, who inspired him as a visually impaired software engineer and also a founding member of Microsoft's accessibility team.

Given the nature of the Orii prototypes I saw recently, I could only try the sound quality and get a feel of what it's like wearing one. To my surprise, the audio sounded much better than I expected, and I could hear it well even inside the busy cafe. This would also come in handy when I want to summon my voice assistant, but alas, that part of the prototypes didn't behave well that day, so there's still some work to be done.

To ensure each Orii fits well before it ships in February next year, Origami Labs will be sending out a ring sizing gauge to all backers for measurements, as well as gathering final color requests: matte black, sandblasted silver, metallic dark gray or armor red. Each ring will also include three silicone inserts for minor adjustments.

At the time of writing this post, Orii's crowdfunding campaign had already pledged over four times its funding goal, courtesy of some 835 backers. These folks either really hate Bluetooth earpieces or they just want to play spies. Or both.

Source: Kickstarter , engadget, TechCrunch

Samsung Introduces world's first cinema LED screen

2017-07-22T00:26:00.003-07:00

After previewing its cinema-sized LED display back in March, Samsung has now installed its first commercial screen in Korea. The 34 ft Cinema LED Screen boasts 4K resolution, supports more lifelike HDR picture quality and is backed up by "state-of-the-art" audio from Harman.

Where most movie theaters around the world use digital or laser projectors to throw the latest blockbuster onto a huge screen in front of the audience, the Lotte Cinema World Tower in Seoul, South Korea, has ditched the projector at its Super S theater in favor of Samsung's first Cinema LED Screen. At 33.8 ft (10.3 m) wide, it's not going to worry IMAX theater owners too much, but as the installation is made up of a number of cabinets, it can be scaled to suit the requirements of different theaters.

Samsung's screen couples 4,096 x 2,160 UHD resolution with High Dynamic Range technology, now common in big screen televisions, for the promise of true-to-life colors and sharp, vibrant images. Meanwhile, a "nearly infinite" contrast ratio should be more than capable of handling the deepest blacks and brightest whites. It also manages 10 times the brightness levels offered by movie projectors.

The new display is said to be capable of maintaining top notch digital picture quality in a variety of lighting scenarios, allowing venues to use theaters for corporate events, concerts, gaming competitions and sporting event viewing as well as showing the latest movies. And it was the first to fully comply with the Digital Cinema Initiative theater technology standards in May, which is said to validate the screen's ability "to showcase the complete color spectrum with unaltered accuracy."

Harman Professional Solutions and Samsung's own Audio Lab share the sound credits, a combination of speakers bordering the display, Samsung's audio processing tech and JBL's Sculpted Surround Sound system.

According to ZDNet, Lotte Cinema is planning to install more of the screens in key theaters throughout South Korea, while Samsung is taking aim at the US, China and Japan.

Source: Newatlas Samsung

Textron's Nightwarden drone shows its wings at Paris Air Show

2017-06-25T00:53:00.002-07:00

The 2017 Paris Air Show has witnessed another unveiling as Textron Systems Unmanned Systems' Nightwarden Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (TUAS) made its international debut at Paris-Le Bourget Airport. The latest variant of the AAI RQ-7 Shadow Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), the Nightwarden is the production-ready version of the developmental Shadow M2, which first flew in 2012.

Described by Textron as a "next-generation platform," the Nightwarden has multi-mission capability and performance that the company claims makes it comparable to much larger strategic UAVs. Though it has a blended wing and an improved propulsion system, it retains many common features with the latest Shadow RQ-7B Version 2.

Using a new reduced-noise, water-cooled rotary engine, it has a greater electrical output than previous versions, a speed bump to 90 knots (103 mph, 166 km/h), a new endurance of 15 hours, a range of 683 mi (1,1000 km), and payload capacity of 130 lb (59 kg).

Textron says that the Nightwarden comes with an optional SATCOM package that gives it capabilities comparable to that of larger Group IV Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) platforms. It also has "fly-from-home-or-hub" station capability; open architecture and a dual-payload bay for a variety of payloads including electronic attack, signals intelligence, or communications intelligence; and the ability to carry Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) payloads and strike munitions.

The Nightwarden has already undergone testing and clocked up 400 flight hours in Europe, the Mideast and the Asia-Pacific region, where it demonstrated its ability to operate independent of proper runways by means of its automated take-off and landing system, enhanced landing gear, remote taxi system, and air vehicle parachute for emergencies.

"Since first announcing the Shadow M2, we've made significant improvements and enhancements to the system – so much in fact, that there are many differences between the two platforms," says Unmanned Systems Senior Vice President & General Manager Bill Irby, "For example, compared to our internal development model, the Nightwarden TUAS offers greater flexibility and combat capability, beyond-line-of-sight satellite communications (SATCOM) features, as well as enhanced command-and-control through Synturian, Textron Systems' new family of multi-domain control and collaboration technologies."

The video below introduces the Nightwarden.

Source: Textron , Newatlas

This Cool tilt-rotor hexacopter puts a new twist on drone orientation

2017-06-11T00:41:00.000-07:00

Multicopter drones are breaking through the final restriction on their movement in the air: they no longer need to hover parallel with the ground. The Voliro prototype's six props can tilt 360 degrees, allowing a staggering 12 degrees of freedom in the air. It's mesmerizing to watch.

Last week we covered a cube shaped drone, whose ability to calculate the trajectory of a thrown ball and catch it mid-air overshadowed its other remarkable capability of flying and hovering in any orientation.

The Voliro has no such party trick as yet, but it's still a real mind bender. Designed and built in nine months, the prototype is a regular-shaped hexacopter, but each of its six props can tilt a full 360 degrees, allowing a staggering 12 degrees of freedom in the air. That means it can manage a stable hover flying sideways, upside down, diagonally or any other way you care to mention.

Its acrobatic capabilities are more or less unlimited, but the Voliro team (a group of 11 "highly motivated" students from ETH Zurich) is more interested in its ability to hug walls. This could be a huge advantage in infrastructure inspection jobs and the like.

It's hard to imagine how you'd fly something like this manually, although it's fair to say you're never truly flying any quadcopter manually. Flight control software is constantly adjusting the power input to your props, no matter what mode you're flying in.

Even so, would you need an extra thumb to fly something like this? It's hard enough getting your head around orientation flying a regular quad, without having to think about which way's up as well.

Watch it in action in the video below.

Source: Newatlas, Voliro

New Open-air BAC Mono roadster joins Isle of Man police force

2017-05-28T05:17:00.001-07:00

Lotus and Lamborghini police cars aren't exactly patrolling every city block, but such sports cars have become regular enough among police fleets that they don't shock us anymore. But the latest police supercar has come as a bit of a surprise. The world's first Mono police car puts a single officer inside BAC's open-air, track-focused roadster. So if you happen to see what looks like a brightly dressed go-cart in your rear-view, you might want to slow up a bit and be sure your speedometer lines up with street sign

BAC has been using the Isle of Man's idyllic roads to test and further develop its Mono ever since launching it in 2011. And that's a good thing, because that testing and development has led to some intriguing upgrades, like the graphene-laced body and carbon-hybrid wheels it detailed last year.

We're not sure if BAC has had any previous run-ins with the Isle of Man Constabulary over the years, but we do know that it worked closely with the government in holding its Mono Experience Weekend on the island earlier this month. The Isle of Man closed and derestricted certain roads, allowing BAC clients to experience them to their fullest.

Now BAC is giving back, supplying the Isle of Man with a fully liveried Mono ready to report for police duty. The force will use it as a fleet car and a show car, taking it to festivals to promote safe, responsible driving.

It's hard to imagine driving the super-quick, open-air Mono without also imagining breaking a law or two, so we're not sure it exactly yells "roadway safety" or "obey speed limits." It will undoubtedly attract more festival visitors than a "FREE road safety pamphlets" banner, though. We'd certainly stop by and check it out if we saw it at a motor show or festival. And the constabulary's plan appears to be working already.

"It's a remarkable vehicle and clearly will be of huge interest to bikers and car drivers alike," said PC Andy Greaves, the force's dedicated Mono driver. "We are here to promote safe use of the road, and it's amazing how many people want to talk to you when this is your transport."

BAC doesn't mention any special tuning, but the stock 305-hp 2.5-liter four-cylinder should prove plenty for all road and event duties. That engine fires the 1,279-lb (580-kg, dry weight) Mono from 0 to 60 mph (96.5 km/h) in a mere 2.8 seconds, so it can keep pace with virtually anything ... at least at the start of the chase. Depending upon what it's chasing, it might run out of steam at higher speeds, topping out at 170 mph (274 km/h). And it had better slow down and let backup take over if the bullets start firing – that cockpit is the last place you want to be in that scenario.

This weekend, two-wheeled speed junkies from around the world will descend upon the Isle of Man for the start of the Isle of Man TT race series, which seems like a perfect venue for parading a police Mono around.

Source: BAC, Newatlas

Can-Am provides off-road thrills for four with high-performance Maverick X3 Max

2017-03-06T00:05:00.001-08:00

Mud-splashing, dust-kicking, dirt-ripping action ... why wouldn't you want to share that with three of your closest friends or family members? Can-Am gives you that very opportunity with the all-new Maverick X3 Max. The latest four-seater in Can-Am's lineup relies on a stretched wheelbase, trophy truck-inspired suspension and 154-hp turbocharged engine to get the heart thumping and skin goose-bumping as it devours terrain at speed.

Can-Am introduced the Maverick X3 performance flagship last year, and the all-new Max grows the family with a 2+2 option. While some other four-seat UTVs end up looking like all-terrain golf carts, the Max looks every bit a fast, angry buggy built for open dirt speed runs, explosive jumps and deft footwork across foreboding terrain.

Helping create its aggressive look and stance are the stretched 135-in (343-cm) wheelbase – that's a full 18 inches (46 cm) longer than the Polaris RZR XP4 that Can-Am has in its sights – a wedge-shaped steel tube frame, LED headlights and taillights, an available full roof and side 1/4 doors (available lower door panels create the fuller doors shown in some of the photos). An integrated front bumper and full skid plate provide rugged protection.

This book reads just like its cover, too, its performance-tuned mechanicals offering speed and handling on all types of off-road terrain. Like the two-seat Maverick X3, the Max is powered by a 154-hp turbocharged and intercooled Rotax ACE inline three-cylinder engine. The QRS-X continuously variable transmission (CVT) is tuned to cut turbo lag to near-zero and enhance throttle response, while the triple air intakes and high-flow exhaust provide exceptional airflow and a sand-shaking growl.

The Maverick X3 Max's Maxxis Bighorn 2.0 tire-wrapped 14-in wheels eat up bumps and landings with a trophy truck-inspired four-link torsional trailing arm-X (TTX) rear suspension and Fox shocks delivering 20 to 22 in (51 to 56 cm) of travel, depending upon trim. The double A-arm suspension up front matches the 20/22-in of rear travel and aids in the 13 or 14 in (33 or 35.5 cm) of ground clearance. Dynamic power steering, selectable 2WD/4WD with auto-locking front differential and hydraulic disc brakes give the driver precise control.

Inside the rigid, fully welded dual-phase 980 steel frame, the Max keeps occupants both comfortable and fully engaged with the terrain below. All four occupants sit at the same low level, enjoying a visceral ride experience while keeping center of gravity down low. Four-way-adjustable Ergoprint seats improve comfort, and grab handles and footrests help passengers brace for speedy straight lines and bumpy traverses. The wraparound Ergo-Lok cockpit with its seat-splitting center console looks like it was plucked out of the performance sports car design book, while the flat-bottomed steering wheel found its way over from racing.

Can-Am revealed the Maverick X3 Max in Reno last month and offers three different models. The US$29,099 Maverick X3 Max X rs serves as the flagship of the trio, offering a larger 165.5 x 72-in (420 x 183-cm, L x W) build, 22 in of front and rear suspension travel, fully adjustable Fox 3.0 Podium RC2 bypass shocks in back, a full roof up top and heavy-duty skid plate below, and 30-in tires on aluminum beadlock wheels. The base Maverick X3 Max starts at $24,999 and the mid-level X3 Max ds at $27,399. Can-Am and partner aftermarket companies offer a selection of hundreds of accessories to make the Max an even meaner beast.

Source: Gizmag, Can-Am

PAL-V flying three-wheeler being prepared for take off

2017-02-14T23:53:00.001-08:00

Dutch flying car developer PAL-V is aiming to make good on its promise to be first to market. Following successful test flights and concerted efforts to meet European and US road and aviation standards, the company has announced that its taking reservations for its dual-engined Liberty three-wheel gyrocopter.

"After years of hard work, beating the technical and qualification challenges, our team succeeded in creating an innovative flying car that complies with existing safety standards, determined by regulatory bodies around the world," said Robert Dingemanse, CEO of PAL-V, in a press statement.

The PAL-V Liberty features a Rotax engine-based dual propulsion drivetrain – one engine for driving and another for flying – and has been designed to be about the same size as a "regular car," with the benefit of lowered suspension and tilting two person cockpit for leaning into the curves of the road.

In drive mode, the propeller is hidden away inside the vehicle's body while the blades are kept up top in roof box-like storage. PAL-V gives the Liberty's 100 HP drive mode engine a top speed as 160 km/h (100 mph), with a sprint up to 100 km/h (62 mph) taking 9 seconds. Fuel economy is rated at 7.6 l/100 km (31 mpg) and the driving range given as 1,315 km (817 miles).

When the time comes to take to the skies, the rotor mast unfolds automatically, but the driver/pilot will need to pull out the tail section and unfold the two rotor blades and break out the prop to prepare for flight. The mode switch process is reported to take between 5 and 10 minutes. After a brief pre-flight check, the pilot can head skyward to a maximum altitude of 3,500 m (11,480 ft).

In the air, the Liberty's 200 HP flying mode engine is reported to be about as loud as a small fixed-wing airplane and gives a maximum speed of 180 km/h (112 mph), an economic cruise speed of 140 km/h (87 mph) or a high cruise speed of 160 km/h, the latter sacrificing 10 percent of its range. That range could extend to up to 500 km (310 miles), though pilots may need to top up its 100 l (26.4 gal) fuel tank on landing. Once the vehicle touches down, the tail can be pushed back and the rotors and prop folded away for driving mode.

The Liberty is 4 m (13.1 ft) long and 1.7 m (5.4 ft) high in drive mode, extending to 6.1 m (13.1 ft) x 3.2 m (10.5 ft) for flight. The vehicle is 2 m (6.6 ft) wide regardless of mode, and the unfolded rotor diameter is 10.75 m (35.3 ft). It has an empty weight of 664 kg (1,413 lb).

As is common these days, the company has also developed a mobile app that compares travel using a PAL-V vehicle with more conventional modes of transport and will let users know what time savings have been made, as well as determining how many stops will be needed for long journeys and making travel recommendations.

The are two versions of the Liberty on offer. Pioneer Edition buyers will be able to personalize interior and exterior finishes and be the first to receive their vehicles. This flavor is priced at €499,000/US$599,000. The standard Sport model costs less, at €299,000/$399,000, but buyers will have to wait a little longer for delivery.

PAL-V is taking reservations for the Liberty now and expects to start making preproduction units later this year, with road and air-certified models set for delivery to customers by the end of 2018.

A driving license and a pilot's license will be needed to use the vehicle, and current regulations do not allow for take-off and landing just anywhere. The company says that "the PAL-V needs a space for take-off measuring about 90-200 by 20 meters (100-650 x 60 ft) without surrounding obstacles. In practice all small airstrips, aerodromes, glider sites and/or ultralight airfields will suffice. The PAL-V Liberty can operate from either concrete or grass airstrips. As the PAL-V popularity increases, it is expected that more and more small uncontrolled airstrips will be created. Many countries also allow for special permits on private property."

You can see a short teaser video below.

Source:Gizmag, PAL-V

Jetpack pioneer David Mayman's new electric VTOL flying car project will amaze you

2017-02-02T21:57:00.000-08:00

Jetpack Aviation's David Mayman and Nelson Tyler have already brought honest-to-god jetpacks out of the pages of science fiction books and onto the market. Now, they plan to do the same with flying cars. We spoke with Mayman at length about Jetpack Aviation's new manned VTOL multirotor project.

The age of the flying car will soon be upon us. Thanks to a convergence of technology developments – lithium batteries, multirotor drones, electric aircraft, cheap and plentiful inertial sensors – the three-dimensional commuting revolution is beginning, and a number of companies are making serious progress in the embryonic stages of this very exciting space.

One of the best overviews and forward projections in this space we've seen is the Uber Elevate whitepaper, which specs out and puts some numbers around a VTOL air taxi service, and what it would take in terms of regulations, infrastructure and price point to make the concept viable.

One unexpected new contender has just thrown its hat into the ring: Jetpack Aviation (JPA), a small operation out of Van Nuys, California, run by personal flight pioneers David Mayman and Nelson Tyler. The JPA team has made stunning progress in the last few years by developing the world's first jet turbine backpack – a wild sci-fi dream come true.

Mayman, as CEO and chief pilot, has been staging spectacular public flightsof the JB-9 and JB-10 jetpacks all around the United States and Europe, and the company recently announced that if you've got the cash, you can actually buy one now.

With a six-turbine JB-11 jetpack about to be built, some US Army contracts to fulfil and an all-electric JB-12 in development, the JPA team certainly has its hands full – but not too full to begin pressing ahead on a wild manned multicopter flying car concept that's yet to be named.

Currently at the CAD render stage, the JPA VTOL concept is an early vision of a three-dimensional single-seat commuter. It's a manned multirotor, with 12 props mounted coaxially on six arms. For all intents and purposes, it's a single-seat electric multicopter that'll fit in a single car garage thanks to the center arms folding in.

We caught up with JPA CEO David Mayman on the phone to discuss the development of the VTOL concept, the race to build the first commercially-viable flying car, the future of personal aviation and the challenges the team faces in making these kinds of aircraft safe in the event of failure.

Here's what Mayman had to say, in his own words.

The race is on: who's going to own the upcoming flying car market?

Larry Page has two separate bets on the table, with Zee.Aero and Kitty Hawk. Airbus is having a go with the Vahana. You've got eHang in China and e-Volo in Germany making manned multicopters. Dezso Molnar's doing his thing with the Street Wing and the Gyrocycles – he's an amazing individual, although from my discussions with him, it seems he's not interested in anything that's not roadable.

Our Chief Engineer Stefano went up to Northern California and actually managed to get out on a full tour of the Joby Aviation facility – he said what they're doing out there with the S4 is amazing. He and JoeBen Bevirt, I think they both went to UC Davis together. Stef was pretty open about our intentions in this space, and it was actually all cool.

There's two schools of thought. You've got your winged aircraft with distributed electric propulsion – the Joby, the Airbus, the Zee.Aero – the advantage here is high speed. They can cruise at 2-300 miles an hour (320-480 km/h), so you get speed and range out of that.

We're on the other side. We're taking the manned multirotor approach. More than anything else, because some of the technology's already proven enough. The speeds are lower – you might be talking about 90 miles an hour (145 km/h), but the size factor is so much smaller because you don't have a wing to deal with.

Jetpack Aviation's own VTOL flying car design

The way we're designing ours, there are actually six arms that come out from the top of the chassis – two at the front, two in the middle and two at the rear. The middle one can fold in. The design direction I've given is that it's gotta fit inside a single car garage. It'll be low enough and thin enough to do that, because the side arms and motor pods fold in against the chassis.

There's only one seat in it at the moment, but the beauty of distributed electric propulsion is that it's very, very scalable. The way that electric motors work, it's hey, you wanna make something for two people? OK, you just add power to the electric motors. The ultimate limiting factor comes from battery storage density.

We all – Tesla, everybody working in this space – need it to be higher than the current 200-odd Watt-hours per kilogram we can get at the moment. But they're talking about in four years, maybe it hits 400. That's huge, that's where these electric aircraft will all become very realistic.

We started with landing skids, but we've ended up with little spheres – landing balls.

The Volocopter is a much bigger concept, using the same German Hacker brushless DC motors we're looking at. They're using 18 rotors, I think, which are spread out on six arms that split into 12 arms, and it's quite a large footprint. But they're not mounting the motors coaxially like we're planning to.

Coaxially mounted double props on each arm

Our concept is that on the end of each of our six arms, you've got a motor on top, and a motor underneath. They spin in opposite directions. It does come with inefficiencies, because the air that's being pushed from the top one down has already been accelerated. So the pitch angle on the lower blades has to be different. But it leads to a much smaller form factor. You can see how instead of having to find real estate for 12 rotors all mounted so the props don't hit each other, this way we can use half the space.

We're still doing the math on the coaxial design in terms of efficiency. We know it works, I mean there's DJI drones out there using it right now. But we just don't know exactly how much efficiency we lose by running it that way.

At this stage we're going for custom wooden props instead of carbon props. You can get them incredibly light, and they're much more resistant to damage. With a carbon prop, if you get any damage, like a little stone, or something, they're pretty much stuffed. A wooden prop is very easy to repair, and there are fantastic little prop makers who can make them any size you want, so they're not very expensive.

These things operate relatively close to the ground, you're talking about 2 meters (6.5 ft) off the ground. There's always the risk of them picking up stuff. I mean, if you look at the eHang 184 out of China, their lower props are literally, they look like 8 inches off the ground. I don't see how that's going to work. If you land on ground that's not perfectly level, or if you come it at a bit of an angle, the prop's the first thing that's gonna hit the ground. I'm not quite sure what the thinking was there. But they have raised a lot of money, I've heard somewhere around US$80 million.

So our props come off the top. Obviously that means some added weight, because you have to have that extra strength through the whole airframe structure to carry the load from the top rather than the bottom.

What can you do to extend flight times while battery tech catches up?

We're looking at designing something similar to an extended-range electric car, with a generator on board. In fact, we were looking at perhaps building in a turbine motor, thanks to our experience with turbines on the jetpacks. A very small one, a tiny one, the size of a coke can, can produce a lot of power as a generator.

They do consume fuel faster than, say, a two-stroke motor, but they're so much lighter that you can carry more fuel. Anyway, it's one of the concepts we're looking at. And it could take something from a 20-minute flight time up to an hour with a hybrid range extender.

What's the end game with this design?

I don't want to sound overly optimistic or sci-fi, but these things will be practical. Once the battery density technology advances, these things will be a practical form of transport. We know the infrastructure has to catch up. We know the regulations have to catch up.

But I think that the Uber Elevate whitepaper is right on the money. We all know that this stuff is gonna take time, but at the moment, as we're talking, I'm sitting on the 405 in LA… We're working as if it's a two dimensional world, traveling in serial, car after car after car. All this airspace above us is completely unutilized between 100 and 1,000 feet.

One day, that space will be used. We've got plans on being a part of that. We know it's not gonna be the gas turbine engine that makes sense for that. We know it'll be electric. The technology with battery storage capacity will catch up, and it'll take time. But in the meantime, we work on the other stuff: the airframe. The motor systems. The stabilization.

Drone technology has advanced all of that stuff – the autopilot, the stabilization – to the point where we nearly don't have to do any R&D for that. We can just about start from off-the-shelf products and customize it for our use.

And of course mobile phones – that's generated such a leap in accelerometers and sensors. The power you're carrying around now in terms of inertial measurement and GPS – it used to cost a hundred thousand dollars. Now an iPhone's got three, and they probably cost 20 cents each. And that's driven drone technology.

Then there's the software. Honestly, we could probably build this thing initially using standard hobby-grade DJI software, and it'd work, and it'd probably be pretty much bulletproof, the way they make these things these days. It's just that we want to have redundancy, and we want to be really, really sure that if some circuit board fries, it's got a backup. That's where the engineering effort becomes pretty serious.

But just 15 years ago, it would have been an incredibly daunting undertaking. You would've had to go to Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman for every component. Now you could probably build a whole prototype for a million bucks.

Of course, people are doing it a lot cheaper – I've seen some of the videos. For 10 grand you could get something together if you were crazy enough to fly the thing. But if you want to make something that's a little more mil-spec in terms of reliability and redundancy and what have you, and you want to do the carbon fiber work properly, and the engineering studies, it's a more expensive exercise.

What's the timeframe on getting a prototype built?

Our head engineer Stefano, he gets to work on this as his third priority after the electric six-fan jetpack (the JB12) and the six-turbine jetpack (JB-11). Poor bugger! The JB-11 should be finished by the end of February.

The electric fan jetpack is next. And it won't just be a training rig – it should be able to fly under battery power for about five minutes. It's going to be a pretty awesome machine. You get the redundancy benefit from multiple fans, we get to play with stabilization systems because it's electric and that's really easy, and it's a lot quieter – and frankly it's part of the deal we've got with the US military guys.

In fact, that's how we bumped into Jamie Hyneman, formerly of Mythbusters, who was working on a similar concept for the same guys. Now we're going to work on the same concept together.

The JB-12 won't be much heavier than the JB-10 turbine jetpack – maybe 15 percent – but it will be physically larger, because each of those six fans is 10 inches (25 cm) in diameter. We've got a bunch of them.

For a company of four people, the pace is insane. We're getting an amazing amount done. These VTOL renders are pretty accurate, we believe. We know where we can get the motors, we know where we can get the props, we know where we can get the control systems… We just haven't started building it yet. I think maybe six months is a reasonable estimate on when we'll start. To some extent it's a bit cash flow dependent, but assuming all goes well it'll be in that sort of timeframe.

And it shouldn't actually be a long build. The carbon fiber work is a known entity. The accelerometers and the autopilot, that sort of thing, we know exactly which systems we want to use. The build time on a prototype shouldn't be that long.

How can you ensure pilot safety?

In terms of redundancy, with the VTOL, we've got 12 props. And while it does depend on which side you get the failures on, we're working on the basis that you could lose half your motors and still come down at an acceptable descent rate. Then it goes to the undercarriage system – something that can collapse in a certain way.

Most of these will probably have a ballistic parachute, but parachutes are only effective above a certain height, which depends on your horizontal velocity and height. If you're in a hover, then with the fastest stuff any of the companies we're talking to can build – Parazero and what have you – it'd only be effective if you're above 50 or 60 feet (15 or 18 m), which is actually really low. They can bring you down safely from that kind of height.

There's a bunch of companies working on a solution to get a canopy out for when you're moving slowly and you get an immediate stable descent. They might punch it out with an airbag, or drag it out with a tractor rocket. They might fire out weights, like lead balls, that open the canopy out immediately.

The problem with all of that stuff is that it works really well when you're in a slow, stable flight or a hover. As in, it works in ideal conditions. But if you're flying along at 80 mph (129 km/h), and you have a massive asymmetric thrust event, and you start toppling, then it doesn't work so well. Then you've got a canopy that's firing while you might be upside down. You might open the chute too fast and it rips it to bits.

There's a lot of people struggling with it – what's the ultimate rescue system for a manned VTOL aircraft, something that works slowly enough to be effective at 200 mph (322 km/h), and yet can fire out quickly enough to be effective in a stable drop from about 50 feet (15 m). It's really interesting stuff.

What about below 50 feet? That's still a deadly fall.

Then you've got the whole concept of airbags. We're actually working with Takata, the big automotive airbag company – they've got an aviation division out in Florida. So it's a question of filling in the safety gap below 50-60 feet - if you drop from, say, 15 feet (4.5 m), how do you immediately get an airbag out to cushion that fall?

With the jetpacks, we're looking at a system that actually jettisons the aircraft from the pilot's corset with explosive bolts, and then protects the pilot with an airbag, something like a giant Zorb ball. You can think of it a bit like the hedgehog thing they had in the Tomorrowland movie. But the challenge is, you have to generate a huge literage of gas in a very short time to be able to fill it.

But with the jetpack jettisoned, you're dealing with about 100 kg (220 lb) instead of, say, 160 (353 lb). Of course, the first thing the FAA says is "well what happens to the jetpack? Does that just fall out of the sky on somebody's head and blow up?" So then you need a little drogue 'chute for that. That's not hard to do, we've got a lanyard that pulls a pin when the pilot separates, and then the drogue 'chute can bring that down at an acceptable descent rate.

But every one of these things, it's weight. Weight is the enemy. We'll have some more power with JB-11, so we'll have more payload capacity. It's all there, it's just time and money.

It must be exciting, pushing forward at the beginning of the personal flight revolution.

It's gonna be a really interesting space over the next 20 years, to track how this VTOL space develops. These things are gonna fly, there's no doubt about that. In 20 years' time, they'll be well and truly out there. We don't know how many, we don't know exactly which designs will prevail, but hopefully it's companies like ours, taking these first tentative steps, that lay the foundations.

We won't be the only ones. We may not be the first ones. But the buzz I get out of it is just being part of the process and working with some of these guys you've been talking to who are so amazing. Everybody has their own view of things.

We wish David Mayman, Nelson Tyler and the rest of the Jetpack Aviation team all the best with this project, as well as their other extraordinary ventures.

SOURCE: Newatlas , Jetpack Aviation.

This Cardboard delivery drone has a one-way ticket

2017-01-23T22:04:00.004-08:00

In developing regions where lack of road infrastructure is problematic for those in the business of moving goods, drones are already having an impact. But also problematic is the fact that the people sending drones off to do the courier work kinda need them back again. A new cardboard drone being funded by DARPA won't concern itself with such limitations, with the ability to deliver vital goods and disappear soon after the job is done.

Back in 2015 we learned of a typically futuristic DARPA program called ICARUS, which stands for Inbound, Controlled, Air-Releasable, Unrecoverable Systems. As the title suggests, the name of the game is to develop small, single-use aircraft that can be deployed from larger aircraft, carry supplies to isolated locations and evaporate thereafter.

The venture builds on and incorporates an earlier DARPA program called Vanishing Programmable Resources (VAPR), which is basically a research effort to develop self-destructing electronics as a way of stopping military gear from falling into the wrong hands. Looking to find a home for this vanishing circuitry, the agency has now provided the San Francisco-based research team at Otherlab with funding to build what would surely be the most tech-savvy paper plane to take to the skies (apologies to the PowerUp FPV).

The Aerial Platform Supporting Autonomous Resupply Actions (APSARA) systems are a heavy-duty cardboard gliders that can be deployed from an aircraft like a C-17 cargo plane, by the hundreds. Star Simpson, hardware developer on the project, tells us that they can then glide up to around 55 mi (88 km) away from the drop point, before circling in and making a precise landing with the cargo in tow.

"We have done tests releasing our aircraft from 1,000 ft (304 mt) and proved their ability to turn at waypoints and to land within close range of a specific location," Simpson tells New Atlas.

Once the goods have arrived, the drones biodegrade in a matter of days. And because it is a glider without motors and rotors, it means that all of the onboard electronics, courtesy of DARPA's VAPR program, go with it. Otherlab isn't disclosing the cost of each drone, only saying that they are designed to be both expendable and biodegradable.

The payloads could include blood, vaccines and other medically-sensitive fluids, and the aircraft could be used in disaster zones as well as battlefield scenarios. "The current models carry 1 kg (2.2 lb), we believe they could scale up to carrying 10 kg (22 lb) without issue," says Simpson.

Source:Newatlas , Otherlab

Honda's self-balancing motorcycle follows you around

2017-01-08T22:42:00.001-08:00

One of the cutest things we've seen at CES 2017 is Honda's self-balancing motorcycle – a modified NC750S that uses technology derived from Honda's self-balancing unicycles to keep itself upright. Plus, it can follow you around like a puppy at walking pace, which is adorable.

Honda is well and truly into self-balancing personal transport gear. The U3-X and UNI-CUB unicycle devices are neat, fun little jiggers built to solve a potentially devastating problem Japan is facing earlier than the rest of the world.

Put simply, Japan isn't having enough babies. By 2050, projections show a population with nearly twice as many 70-80 year olds as 20-30 year olds. There won't be enough youngsters to do the work of keeping the country going as well as taking care of the oldies.

So Honda and the rest of the vaunted Japanese robotics industry are scrambling to figure out how to make older people as mobile and independent as possible. Self-balancing walking pace unicycles like the two mentioned above provide last-mile transport assistance that open up most of a city to somebody that can't walk long distances, when you use them in conjunction with public transport.

But once you've got an understanding of a technology, you might as well apply it elsewhere, and that seems to be what's going on with Honda's cutest reveal at this year's CES show in Las Vegas.

Using UNI-CUB technology, Honda has demonstrated a motorcycle with the ability to self-balance, and even self-drive at slow speeds.

The bike appears to be a modified NC750S – a twin-cylinder midrange nakedbike that uses Honda's clutchless automatic dual-clutch transmission. "This Riding Assist does not use large gyroscopes, which would add a lot of weight and limit the bike's ability to maneuver," says Honda's global president of R&D, Yoshiyuki Matsumoto, "It leverages Honda Robotics technology originally developed for the UNI-CUB."

From what we can see, it seems to balance itself mainly by turning the front wheel, an effect that is enhanced by raking out the front forks using a mechanical offset at the lower triple-clamp. The bike happily stands up by itself, or with a rider on board, but it does look like the rider needs to stay pretty still.

The ability to self-balance, plus the auto transmission, also enables another nifty feature: the bike can be set to follow you around like a puppy as you walk, which could end up making it easier to park and navigate through tight spaces. Mind you, it'd need to be pretty smart to get through tighter spaces than a decent rider could manage.

This is not the first self-balancing motorcycle concept we've seen. The Lit Motors C-1and Thrustcycle Gyrocycle are both in on the action, not to mention BMW Motorrad's wacky Vision Next 100 concept, but it's good to see a major manufacturer like Honda actually build something this far out of the box.

Check out the self-balancing Honda in the video below.

Source: Gizmag, Honda

Watch an alien burst out of your chest : Covenant VR Experience

2017-01-04T02:06:00.001-08:00

(Credit: 20th Century Fox)

The next twelve months will see an explosion of VR content designed to tie into cinematic properties as Hollywood studios work to gain a foothold in the new medium of virtual reality. The latest project to be announced is a VR experience planned to tie in with the upcoming entry in the Alien franchise.

The Fox Innovation Lab and director Ridley Scott are working together on a VR experience they describe as "a dread-inducing journey into the depths of the Alien universe." Sources also report the experience will allow participants a first-hand experience of having an alien burst out of their chest.

This isn't the first time Scott has worked with the Fox Innovation Lab on a VR project, last year they delivered us The Martian VR Experience, a project we reviewed and were rather unimpressed with. Fox is at the forefront of trying to create commercially orientated VR additions to their cinematic projects, but The Martian VR Experience was a frustratingly overpriced, irritatingly short experiment that was wholly unsatisfying.

Unlike the previously announced Blade Runner VR experience coming this October, which will be exclusively tied to the Oculus Rift, the Alien VR experience is set to be available across three major VR platforms – HTC Vive, Playstation VR and Oculus Rift. The cost and specific release date is yet to be announced but the film is due to hit cinemas in May.

To get an impression of the terrifying potential in this VR experience check out the trailer for Alien: Covenant below:

Source:Newatlas, Variety

13-foot-tall Korean mech suit aims to assist with Fukushima cleanup

2016-12-26T23:19:00.000-08:00

A Moldovan-American master designer and a Korean robotics company have teamed up to build a giant, 13-foot tall walking mech suit robot that looks like it's just lumbered off the set of Avatar. With fully articulating arms that mimic the pilot's movements, there's more than a touch of the jaeger robots from Pacific Rim in there, too.

You probably don't know Vitaly Bulgarov's name – but you've almost certainly seen his work before. His highly technical, futuristic robot designs have been a key part of recent Terminator, Robocop and Transformers movies, as well as Starcraft and World of Warcraft games.

Now, working with a newly formed company called Korea Future Technology, he's bringing one of his eye-popping designs into real life. Method-1 is a gigantic mech suit standing 13 feet tall, and as well as looking like it's straight out of a video game, it's actually designed to be functional.

The pilot sits in a glassed-in cockpit holding a pair of arm controls, and the robot's arms follow the movements of the pilot's arms as he waves them around in the cockpit.

It's also capable of walking – at least, on flat surfaces – in forward and reverse. In terms of a power source, Method-1 is tethered with a power cable at the moment, as well as hooked to a moving girder on the roof to prevent it from falling over.

Bulgarov says the robot's short-term use cases include industrial indoor applications where tethers won't cause a problem. Another short-term application will see the torso and arms mounted on a wheeled platform with a built-in power source, and this one's slated for clean-up and restoration work at the Fukushima disaster site in Japan.

Source: Gizmag , Vitaly Bulgarov

This Heavy-lift drone could carry a person

2016-12-20T22:18:00.000-08:00

When it comes to industrial copter-type drones, it's easy to think that there are just two varieties: little ones that carry Amazon-type small packages, and full-sized unmanned helicopters. Griff Aviation, however, recently announced an aircraft that sits somewhere between the two. The Norwegian company's Griff 300 weighs 75 kg (165 lb) on its own, and can reportedly lift a payload of up to 225 kg (496 lb).

The Griff 300 is an octocopter, meaning it has eight propellers each powered by a separate motor. Depending on how much it's carrying, one charge of its battery pack is good for a claimed flight time of 30 to 45 minutes.

It's manually flown from the ground using a radio remote control, although users can also opt for a custom helicopter-cabin-like mobile control station in which they fly it by first-person view.

Buyers can of course saddle it up with whatever cargo carriers, sensors or other gear they wish, although specific payload options are available as extras. These have been designed for users such as the armed forces, law enforcement, fire fighters, and search and rescue teams. There's also a package aimed at wind turbine maintenance, along with one designed to facilitate straight-up cargo-carrying.

There's currently no word on price, although an even burlier model is on the way – the Griff 800 will reportedly be able to carry a payload of up to 800 kg (1,764 lb). Models with even higher capacities are also planned.

In the meantime, you can see the Griff 300 in flight below.

Source: Gizmag , Griff Aviation via SUAS News

Faraday Future's electric streetcar outdrags Tesla P100D

2016-12-19T23:19:00.000-08:00

There's fast, and there's electric fast. Faraday Future is teasing its upcoming streetcar with a video showing a disguised prototype easily walking away from a Bentley, a Ferrari and even a Tesla P100D in Ludicrous mode on the drag strip.

The "if Apple made a Batmobile" FFZERO1 might be one wild looking electric supercar concept, but the platform it's built on might be the most outrageous part about it. A 1,000-horsepower lithium-electric powertrain capable of mind-bending acceleration that's planned as the base for the entire Faraday Future range.

As we move towards the reveal of Faraday Future's first real-world consumer modelin about a month's time at CES, the company is stirring the pot to drum up some anticipation.

A new video just released shows a heavily disguised FF streetcar demolishing a bunch of very fast cars in acceleration testing. Beating a Bentley Bentayaga and Ferrari 488 GTB should be no sweat for a quick electric, but the Tesla Model X P100D, another all-electric beast, makes for some pretty hefty competition in the acceleration stakes with its ability to sprint from 0-60 mph (96.5 km/h) in 2.9 seconds. The Faraday beats it cleanly.

That kind of acceleration is a vulgar and unnecessary display of power that forces strange sounds out of passengers and serves very little practical purpose. Excellent. And the team believes the powertrain's got more in it yet, so they're working to make it even faster.

We look forward to seeing the production car in January.

Source:Newatlas , Faraday Future

Samsung’s Galaxy S8 may not feature a headphone jack

2016-12-08T21:54:00.000-08:00

Motorola and Apple may have already dropped the 3.5mm headphone jack, but the latest rumor suggests Samsung is soon to follow suit on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Edge.

SamMobile is reporting the phone will instead use a USB- Type-C adapter with which to listen with wired headphones. You'll also be able to listen through Bluetooth headsets.

The site hasn’t provided its sources for the story though – so there’s no way of confirming the site has official information. SamMobile has a traditionally good reputation in all things Samsung though so it may well be true.

Goodbye old friend

The reason for dropping the 3.5mm headphone jack isn’t currently clear, but it may be to make the phone thinner or to free up more space inside the phone for extra features.

Taking out the legacy tech may make enough space to either increase the battery size or there may be some brand new feature Samsung has up its sleeve.

If the rumor is correct, it’ll also mean the Samsung Galaxy S8 will feature a USB-C connector like the Galaxy Note 7. Earlier today we also heard a rumor the Galaxy S8 will pack Harman branded dual stereo speakers.

We probably won't know if the Samsung Galaxy S8 will drop the headphone jack until February 2017 when the phone is expected to be announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Source Techradar

THeMIS ADDER weaponized UGV aces first live fire tests

2016-12-03T02:23:00.000-08:00

After unveiling it at the Singapore Airshow back in February, Milrem and ST Kinetics have conducted the first live fire tests of their weaponized unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), the THeMIS ADDER. Armed with a heavy machine gun, the UGV reportedly aced the tests, paving the way for robots that may eventually be able to support or even replace ground troops on the battlefield.

Two main components make up the modular unmanned vehicle. Milrem's Tracked Hybrid Modular Infantry System (THeMIS) provides the tank-like base, running a hybrid diesel-electric drive that can operate for up to 10 hours at a time. It can be controlled remotely, with the potential for autonomous operation. A central platform between the treads allows the UGV to be kitted out for a variety of military applications, such as remote reconnaissance, counter-explosive missions, supply deliveries or med-evac.

In this case, it was topped with an ADDER remote weapon station from ST Kinetics, and armed with a CIS 50MG heavy machine gun. Together, the THeMIS ADDER represents a long-time collaboration between the two companies in developing a weaponized UGV, and under supervision of the Estonian Defence Forces, the vehicle was put through its first live fire tests last month.

"The tests were intended to test the stability of our platform and see how the remote weapon station and vehicle communicate and work with each other," says Kuldar Väärsi, CEO of Milrem. "To our satisfaction everything worked perfectly, you can see as much from the video."

The THeMIS ADDER can carry between 750 and 1,000 kg (1,653 and 2,205 lb), and hit a top speed of between 24 and 35 km/h (15 and 21.7 mph). The turret on top can spin a full 360 degrees in a matter of seconds, and hit targets from as far away as 1.8 km (1.1 miles).

The UGV can be seen in action in the video below.

Source: Newatlas, Milrem

This electric skateboard has no use for four wheels

2016-11-27T22:26:00.001-08:00

While they're certainly not common, we have seen two-wheeled skateboards before. So, what does a company do if it wants its two-wheeler to stand out? Well, it could always add an electric motor, which is just what China's Yiimix has done with the Yiiboard.

First of all, you may wonder what the point behind a two-wheeled skateboard is – besides just looking weird, and requiring a steeper learning curve in order to ride it. Well, the big selling point is that it has a tighter turning radius than a regular four-wheeler, allowing riders to really carve into turns.

The 13-lb (6-kg) Yiiboard's front wheel swivels like that of a shopping cart, with the rear wheel being driven by a brushless 400W hub motor. Power comes from a Panasonic lithium-ion battery pack located in the aluminum alloy deck – one 3-4 hour charge should be good for a range of about 18 miles (29 km).

The board's top speed is 12 mph (19 km/h), and it can carry a payload of up to 331 lb (150 kg).

Riders control the motor using a wireless handheld remote, pushing its slider forward to go faster and pulling it back to stop. When stopping, the rear wheel's energy-recovery braking system helps charge the battery.

Oh yes, and the board also has lights. There are two LED headlights in the front, along with brake lights in the back.

Should you be interested in getting one, it's currently the subject of an Indiegogo campaign. A pledge of US$359 will get you a board, when and if they reach production. The planned retail price is $499.

You can see the Yiiboard in action, in the video below.

Source: Gizmag, Indiegogo

Pocket-sized drone slides right into a smartphone case for perfect selfies

2016-11-18T22:09:00.001-08:00

Just like the selfie stick before them, tiny drones are giving those concerned with self-portraiture more reach than ever before. The AirSelfie is the latest flying camera to zoom into the arena, and may just be the least cumbersome one we've seen, with the ability to slide away into the user's smartphone case when not in use.

When all you really need is a decent enough camera to hang in the air for a few moments and capture a memory or two, the necessary hardware can be packed into some pretty small packages. A number of interesting takes on the selfie drones have popped up over the last year or so, including one that wraps around the wrist like a bracelet, one that folds shut like a book and another with the shape and size of a small water bottle.

But stuffing it away into a smartphone case is something we haven't yet seen, although that case is going to be bulkier than most. The AirSelfie's aluminum frame measures 3.72 x 2.65 x 0.42 in (9.5 x 6.7 x 1 cm) and is stored in purpose-built smartphone cases, which also house a battery said to recharge the drone in 30 minutes. Compatible smartphones include the iPhone 6, 6s, 7, 7 Plus, Huawei P9, Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. For those without a compatible phone, a separate power bank is available that can be used to charge the drone up to 20 times. It also sports a Micro-USB port that can be used for charging.

The drone connects to iOS or Android phones via its own Wi-Fi network, where users can control it via a companion app. There are three different flight modes to choose from, with "Selfie mode" seemingly the simplest, where users only need to concern themselves with moving the drone closer for tighter shots or farther away to fit more in the frame. There are a couple of more advanced modes, one using a single virtual joystick and another simulating a classic drone controller with the phone held horizontally.

AirSelfie carries a 5-megapixel camera for stills and is said to grab HD-quality video, both of which are stored in the 4 GB onboard memory. Users can also download and share their captures from within the accompanying smartphone app over the Wi-Fi connection. The drone can fly up to 66 ft (20 m) away, 66 ft (20 m) in altitude and remain airborne for three minutes at a time.

A Kickstarter campaign is currently underway for the AirSelfie drone, where its makers are looking to raise €45,000 for production. At the time of writing they are well on their way, amassing more than €20,000 of that goal so far. Early pledges of €179 (US$189) are available, which will have a drone, phone cover and Micro USB cable headed your way in March 2017 if the campaign plays out as planned.

You can check out the pitch video below.

Source: Newatlas, AirSelfie

Jetpacks JB-10 now on sale to "well qualified buyers" – but there's also a chance for the rest of us

2016-11-14T02:59:00.000-08:00

After a series of successful flights in Europe, David Mayman and Jetpack Aviation have announced the JB-10 jetpack is officially on sale "to well qualified buyers." Presumably that doesn't include you or I, but there's also a competition to let anyone fly one of these amazing things.

Slated for delivery in April/May 2017, the JB-10 is exactly what you imagined as a kid – a backpack, with two turbine engines hanging off the sides of it. It's fast – some 7 percent more powerful than the JB-9, which got around at a pretty sprightly pace and had the ability to elevate at up to 1,000 ft (305 m) per minute. Endurance is still five to 10 minutes, depending on how much fuel you're carrying.

Part of the challenge with bringing the jetpack to market has been finding a way to safely train new pilots before sending them out into a field with two jet engines on their back.

As such, the Jetpack Aviation team is working on an electric, tethered training facility that gives similar flight dynamics without running up hours on sensitive turbine engines or giving pilots a chance to really hurt themselves.

And hence the "well qualified buyers" stipulation; these are early days for personal jetpack flight. Mayman and the team have no interest in having this formative technology stopped or slowed down by irresponsible users splatting themselves against buildings at 200 km/h.

The team also has another jetpack under development that uses three smaller turbines per side for a total of six instead of two, so there's some redundancy in case of engine failure. Mayman tells us he expects to be test flying that design early next year, but in the meantime, the automatic thrust management system is requiring a whole new computer and the team is still looking at ballistic parachutes as a failure option.

Jetpack Aviation isn't announcing pricing for the world's first real jetpack, but surely it's a case of if you have to ask, you can't afford it. But for the rest of us, the company is running a contest to win a jetpack flight – and I think we could all agree that'd be pretty damn cool.

Check out some video from the European flights below.

Source: Newatlas , Jetpack Aviation

Why Social Media and Personal Injury Don’t Mix: Here’s How Going Public Can Damage Your Case

2016-11-09T10:06:00.000-08:00

In today’s world, it can be difficult to understand what privacy actually means. What does living a private life even look like? Many people have grown so accustomed to displaying their personal lives on social media that it’s become second nature. For many, it can feel natural to take photos specifically for Instagram or to rant on Facebook about the most recent frustrating encounter they’ve had.

What happens, though, if you get hurt and it’s blasted on social media? What if you feel that legal action should be taken? There are many reasons why going public with your personal injury can actually damage your case.

Who Has Access?

When you post details about your life on any social media outlet, you may be surprised at who exactly is collecting information. While connecting with your friends and family is harmless, it’s not unlikely that people you may not know also have access to your personal information.

Depending on the situation with your case specifically, there may even be people searching for information to use against you. Once someone finds enough pieces, they can create whatever puzzle they want. It’s crucial that as soon as you file a personal injury claim, you provide your attorney with all of your social media accounts so that there are no surprises in court.

According to personal injury attorneys at Teddy, Meekins & Talbert, the first priority is to investigate your case. The more information your lawyers have to work with, the better the outcome of the case will be.

Information Can Be Used as Evidence.

Perhaps you’ve broken your leg and are unable to walk without crutches. While social media content can help support your claim if you have photos of you on crutches, or written content mentioning your situation, it can also go the other direction. What if someone tags you in a photo where you’re standing on both legs? Maybe you’ve claimed to have emotional distress, but your content shows a much happier version of yourself.

It could certainly come back to haunt you if you decide to eliminate content or destroy an electronic device, but it’s generally good practice to simply steer clear of a heavy online presence if you’re going through a legal battle of any kind.

It’s so important not to discuss your case with anyone, and that absolutely includes refraining from posting about it on social media. Everything can be used as evidence, so take a step back and allow your lawyer to do the necessary work. Just make sure not to say or post anything you don’t mean.

This home security system is centered around a flying camera drone

2016-11-06T01:30:00.000-07:00

The military has been using drones for surveillance abroad for years, and now Sunflower Labs is looking to bring the same approach to home security. The Sunflower Home Awareness System makes use of solar-powered "smart lights" that work in concert with a flying camera drone to keep an eye on your property.

The system is based around the lights, which each contain more than a dozen sensors. Once a number of them are installed around the property, they work together to detect motion, vibration and sounds. When the network detects an event, the system sends the owner an alert that can be dismissed if there's nothing to worry about or the user can choose to deploy the flying camera for a closer look at what's going on.

The quadcopter carrying the camera automatically heads to the location of the detected event, using the smart lights as navigational beacons, and sends back live video to the user's mobile device. It's kind of like a flying version of the Ring home security system.

Sunflower says the system is also designed to learn your home's normal patterns to make it easier to disregard regular events like familiar cars in the driveway or animals in the yard.

The drone has an advanced autopilot and requires no actual piloting skills. Its camera is equipped with an infrared light for night vision and points down, so it will typically be observing from above.

Unlike a lot of products featuring new, relatively unproven uses of drones we've seen, this is one that's not bootstrapping its efforts on the back of a crowdfunding campaign, at least not yet (the more basic Rook home drone went the Indiegogo route earlier this year.) Sunflower Labs is made up of a team split between Silicon Valley and Switzerland and managed to raise a seed round of funding from investors, reportedly valued at US$2.1 million.

Sunflower Labs is currently taking pre-orders for the system on its website. Pricing targets are currently $159 per Smart Light and $799 for the Flying Camera, but the company also plans to offer the system for a monthly subscription fee. For now, early adopters can get in line for a $25 reservation fee that will be converted to a $100 discount when the system ships in 2017. Sunflower says the reservation fee is fully refundable.

Sources:Newatlas Medium, TechCrunch

Shanghai Tower declared world's best new skyscraper

2016-11-02T00:51:00.001-07:00

Gensler's Shanghai Tower, the world's second-tallest building, has been declared the world's best skyscraper by information specialist Emporis in its annual skyscraper awards. The mixed use megatall skyscraper reaches a total height of 632 m (2,073 ft) and twists a full 120 degrees to mitigate the effect of the punishing winds at such heights.

Lauded by Emporis for its elegant design and energy-efficiency, the US$2.4 billion Shanghai Tower is a very impressive building.

The foundations alone required an entire fleet of trucks pouring concrete for 63 hours straight. A total of 106 Mitsubishi-designed elevators travel at speeds of up to 20 m (65 ft) per second in order to allow move people around the mammoth structure in a reasonable time.

A double-layered glass skin improves the building's insulation and wind turbines power all the external lighting. Rainwater is also collected and used for air-conditioning and heating systems.

Making use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) software from Autodesk, the design team was able to analyze wind resistance and seismic loads of progressive iterations of the building's design and eventually achieve what Gensler estimates is a design that used 32 percent less materials than a conventional tower of the same size.

Moscow's Evolution Tower (pictured above), by RMJM Edinburgh and Kettle Collective is the second place runner-up. This building twists too, but does so more dramatically. As it rises, each of the neo-futurist's skyscraper's 53 floors twists a full 3 degrees compared to the preceding floor.

Its design was partly inspired by Moscow's iconic Saint Basil's Cathedral (though we can't see the resemblance) and it reaches a total height of 246 m (807 ft).

Head to the gallery to see the remaining eight runners-up for the Emporis Skyscraper Award, including an NYC skyscraper modeled after a trashcan and another in Austria with an unusual multicolored facade.

Source:Newatlas , Emporis