Posted on 01/21/2014 9:17:53 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
That? Oh, that’s just a mosquito, now tell me more about your top secret project.
Do you ever feel frustrated that you can’t keep tabs on your significant other at all times? Nervous that everyone is hanging out without you? Curious about what the heck your neighbors are doing over there?
Thankfully, there’s a Pocket Drone currently being funded on Kickstarter that will solve these problems and more. It only takes 20 seconds to unpack and launch. Then, you can load it up with any video camera you own, as long as the payload is less than half a pound. Hit record and you’re off, creating surveillance footage of everyone you know.
Control Pocket Drone with an app on your phone or tablet, and you can access hard-to-reach places like the café where that hot neighbor you’ve been Facebook stalking gets his coffee every morning.
“Weird,” he may say to himself, “there seems to be a tiny helicopter buzzing about my head.”
Hopefully, he’ll think nothing of it so you can secretly record his entire order, then memorize it and show up at his door with it the next morning. 21st century dating!
The Pocket Drone’s flights last as long as 20 minutes, so you might even be able to surreptitiously record an entire business meeting to which you weren’t invited. And its open source software means you can hack it to do whatever you want. Surveillance footage of our siblings talking sh^t about us, seen through the “rise” Instagram filter? Yes, please!
The project’s Kickstarter has blown past its $35,000 goal and still has 49 days left, Mashable reports. Each backer gets his or her own video drone. The only setback is that you have to have an Android phone or tablet to control it — but we’d deign to purchase a Samsung Galaxy Note if it meant finally being able to hear what our hair dresser is saying when she periodically retreats into the back room for no apparent reason.
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
Illegal in Texas
Power for what, ten minutes of flight?
First, these are NOT DRONES! They are UAVs. Second, there is no way you can secretly record anyone with that noisy egg-beater overhead. I would be surprised if flight time was more then 5 minutes.
The article says 20 minutes, YMMV. Remember, this is the Commodore 16 phase of this technology.
I stand corrected. It does have the ability to fly GPS waypoints so it could be considered a drone.
Wait til the next generation comes along, with onboard GPS-based navigation. You’ll plug it into your laptopr or tablet, draw a course you want it to fly, and download to the drone. It will fly away, recording all the time, and return to you or to any designated location. This capability already exists, it’s called “hover and stare”, and it’s already cost-effective for low-cost drones.
Once this happens, legislation will become virtually unenforceable.
Remember when Amazon considered using drones to deliver packages? In some parts of the country, that’s called “target practice with free gifts”.
I fly radio controlled planes and just recently started flying with a flight camera. The video is transmitted to a small lcd screen. I have one of the older versions of the autopilot but haven't used it yet.
Been here for a couple years now. Many manufacturers and getting higher tech by the month. :-)
http://www.ujtoys.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=DJI-Phantom-2&gclid=CJG7tfOSkbwCFaE1Qgod8woAfQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tyvfu23eMOQ
I'd be more interested in a copter-killer copter.
I had something a little less devastating in mind, but that's a fun video.
Have nice day!
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