Uber could soon know if you’re drunk before the car arrives to pick you up
Uber has filed a patent outlining an app-based artificial intelligence capable of detecting "uncharacteristic" behavior, such as drunkenness, among riders. That way, it could send a more experienced driver to collect the potentially boisterous rider, or ensure they don't end up in a pooled ride.
A single police drone has seriously impacted crime in a Mexican city
A single drone used by police in the city of Ensenada in Mexico has reportedly helped to cut overall crime there by 10 percent, and burglaries by a sizable 30 percent. Cops have been using DJI's Inspire 1 quadcopter for four months and so far the eye in the sky has helped them to make 500 arrests.
Tesla now has more than 10,000 Superchargers around the world
Tesla has opened its 10,000th Supercharger, this one in Ontario, Canada. The global network of Superchargers has been growing steadily since 2012, with the total number of stations now standing at more than 1,200. The electric-company is also building larger stations that offer facilities for longer stops.
Airbnb forced to cancel Japan bookings as new law approaches
A new law about to come into effect in Japan has forced Airbnb to cancel a number of bookings, causing serious disruption for many travelers. The incoming law stipulates that hosts have to apply for a special permit to operate, but many are still dealing with the paperwork.
Amazon Prime to show live games from the world’s most popular soccer league
Amazon has inked a deal with the English Premier League to give U.K-based soccer fans with Prime membership access to 20 games per season for three seasons. The live coverage will cover clashes over the festive period, while the package will also offer regular highlights from throughout the season.
Emirates moves toward windowless planes, starts with first-class seats
Emirates president Tim Clark says he sees "absolutely no reason" why passenger planes can't be built with virtual windows instead of real ones, offering better fuel economy. It has just introduced new jets featuring the high-tech windows in first class, with pictures live-streamed from external cameras.
These astronauts will whiz around Earth 34 times before reaching space station
Three astronauts will whiz around Earth a total of 34 times before reaching the space station on Friday. It usually requires far fewer orbits, but various positioning requirements mean it's going to take a little longer this time. The astronauts will join three crew members for a stay of six months.
Kitty Hawk’s personal flying vehicle takes to the skies
Check out the latest personal flying machine from Kitty Hawk. Capable of vertical take-offs and landings powered by its 10 sets of rotors, the all-electric Flyer can reach speeds of up to 20 mph and fly for 20 minutes. It's currently for "recreation," but the team is continuing work on a more powerful version.
Firefox lets you test new features for side-by-side views and customizing colors
Love Firefox? You might love it even more now that you can open two tabs side by side and customize it with colors and textures. Side View and Colors are currently being offered via Mozilla's Test Pilot program, which lets you try out and give feedback on new features being considered by the browser's developers.
Weird photography: Game Boy Camera meets Canon telephoto lens
Curious about what kind of shots he'd get if he fixed a Canon telephoto lens to his Game Boy Camera, designer Bastiaan Ekeler set about building a mount to make it happen. Despite the poor quality of the display, Ekeler was able produce viewable results that may actually surprise you.
SpaceX says it won’t send space tourists around the moon just yet
SpaceX said in 2017 that it planned to send two high-paying space tourists on a trip around the moon by the end of this year. Well, it's not going to happen — at least, not yet. Without giving a specific reason for the delay, the company said the mission won't take place until mid-2019 at the earliest.
Kodak shows off the first test photos shot on its new Ektachrome film
Whether for old-timers who love their 35mm film camera or newbies keen to explore what film photography has to offer, Kodak's relaunch of its once-popular Ektachrome 100 film for color transparencies will be of interest. The company is showing off the first shots from the film, which should launch soon.
EU’s new data protection law being used as bedtime story by meditation app
Have trouble sleeping? Need a soothing bedtime story? How about listening to someone read the EU's new GDPR data protection law? Meditation app Calm has added "Once Upon a GDPR" to its collection of soporific Sleep Stories, and believes that it could be your best chance yet to beat insomnia.
California snips legal red tape for robot taxis
Fancy a free ride in a driverless car? California is now allowing autonomous-vehicle companies to offer rides to regular folks, and they're not allowed to charge for the journey. The move follows in the footsteps of Arizona and comes as the state explores the viability of robot taxi services.
Finally, an ‘umbrella drone’ that hovers above your head
Is it a drone? Is it an umbrella? It's both actually, and it hovers directly above you to keep the rain off your head or the sun off your skin. If you can ignore the rather annoying racket, and have $275 to spare, this unique contraption could be yours as early as next year.
Waymo orders a huge number of self-driving cars for robot taxi services
Waymo has ordered a huge number of self-driving cars for its planned robot taxi service. It currently has 600 autonomous Chrysler Pacifica minivans on the road, but it's just ordered another 62,000. Yes, you read that right: 62,000. It's not clear when they'll be ready, or how it plans to deploy all of them.
Drones are helping efforts to free whales from dangerous marine debris
A whale-protection group in Hawaii has teamed up with a nonprofit group that uses drones to protect ocean environments. They are using camera-equipped quadcopters to fly over whales entangled in marine debris, with the livestreamed footage providing the rescue team with vital data.
You can put your name down for the Atari VCS, but it won’t arrive until 2019
Atari fans, you can now put your name down for the retro VCS console featuring more than 100 classic games, as well as a bunch of other features that weren't even around when the machine first hit stores in the late 1970s. You'll have to be patient though, as shipping won't begin until spring 2019 at the earliest.
Drone to the rescue: Hawaii resident saved from Kilauea’s lava flows
Real-time footage from a drone flying over the lava flows on the island of Hawaii this week helped to save a resident caught up in the chaos. Deployed by the U.S. Geological Survey, the flying machine identified new flows and was able to guide emergency responders in a brave rescue effort.
Drone-delivered meals come to Shanghai, but they’re dropped off by … a human?
When city roads are clogged with traffic, meal delivery services can suffer, with food arriving at customers' doors late ... and cold. A service in Shanghai has taken to the skies to speed up deliveries, employing drones along fixed routes as part of a setup that also keeps its delivery drivers in work.
Watch Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic test its tourist spaceplane
Virgin Galactic believes it can launch a commercial "space tourism" service for suborbital trips within the next 12 months. On Tuesday it took another step toward its goal with the second successful rocket-powered test flight of VSS Unity, the spaceplane that will carry the crew and passengers.
Amazon delivery drone may use lights and music when it shows up at your home
Amazon noted in its latest patent that its customers "may be alarmed or confused" when one of its noisy delivery drones approaches their house. With that in mind, the company proposes fitting its drone with lights, speakers, and even a projector to help the flying machine communicate with the customer.
High-tech search for Malaysia Airlines passenger plane ends in disappointment
The latest effort to find the Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared four years ago has ended in disappointment. Despite using highly advanced seabed exploration technology, the effort by Texas-based Ocean Infinity failed to locate the aircraft, which went down with 239 passengers and crew on board.
Prime delivery, straight from the moon? Bezos dreams of heavy industry in space
Amazon and Blue Origin boss Jeff Bezos still wants to go to the moon, but not to simply marvel at the spectacular view. Speaking at an event in Los Angeles, the billionaire said he wants to focus on how to shift heavy industry there from Earth, a move that he said would "make this planet better."
Virgin Galactic ‘neck and neck’ with Blue Origin in space tourism race
Virgin boss Richard Branson says Virgin Galactic's first commercial space tourism flight is "months away, not years away," and he plans to be one of the six passengers on board. The company recently completed a successful test of its new Unity spaceplane that will take tourists to the edge of space — for $250K each.
Don’t adjust your set: Bold Samsung ad will make you think your TV is busted
Samsung's new line of QLED TVs comes with an Ambient Mode that helps the display to blend into its surroundings. To highlight how dominating and ugly it believes a regular blank TV display to be, the company will make millions of people think their TVs have broken down during commercial breaks this weekend.
Airbnb is the latest to crib from Snapchat with ‘Travel Stories’
Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube have all done it, and now Airbnb has joined the club. We're talking about the trial launch of its own version of Snapchat Stories, a feature that lets Airbnb users build short presentations of their travel experiences for others to enjoy — which could lead to more bookings.
Apple and Volkswagen are reportedly partnering to build self-driving vans
Apple has reportedly inked a deal with Volkswagen for the tech firm's self-driving shuttle service. Ferrying Apple employees between the company's various campuses and offices in Cupertino, California, the driverless shuttle will reportedly use modified versions of Volkswagen's T6 Transporter van.
This camera melted during a rocket launch, but it’s not what it seems
NASA photographer Bill Ingalls set up a bunch of cameras on May 22 to capture images of SpaceX's latest rocket launch. With lots of experience with such events, he knew exactly where to put them. But while the cameras closest to the rocket were all fine, one that was farther back melted. So what happened?