Parrot’s $500 14MP Bebop Drone To Take Flight In December

Parrot just dropped the price of high-definition drones. The firm’s Bebop drone will hit stores next month with a starting price of $500. That’s several hundred less than DJI’s entry-level Phantom drone even though it packs the same quality camera and several novel tricks including being controllable from a smartphone or tablet..

The Bebop is a big upgrade from the cheaper AR Drone, which, in part, helped install drones in the public’s mindset. Like with the AR Drone before it, Parrot equipped serious drone technology in the Bebop yet managed to keep the price down and safe to fly indoors.

Compared to the similar DJI Phantom, the Bebop packs a lot of the same flight capabilities. And with the more expensive range extender controller, the Bebop has about the same range, too, with a 2 kilometer limit. The drone is capable of streaming the captured video back to a smartphone and it uses built-in GPS and downward facing cameras to help keep the drone in place during high-altitude flying.

The Bebop relies on a software-based 3-axis image stabilization to keep the image fixed and without distortion. Parrot explains the system take the image captured by the 14MP camera and cuts out the stable part, throwing away the bits on the edge that show the drone’s movement. This allows for the camera to be packed into the Bebop’s sleek body rather than dangling underneath.
Parrot_BebopDrone_Skycontroller3

Parrot also developed a dedicated controller for the Bebop that extends the Bebop’s range from 200 meets to 2 kilometers and allows for the pilot to view the drone’s camera output in AR glasses including the Oculus Rift. The controller amplifies the connected smartphone or tablet’s wifi signal and provides analog joysticks and buttons for more precise control. But this extra fun comes at a price: A Bebop with the SkyController costs $900.

Both the standard and SkyController editions will hit Best Buy and Apple stores in December for $500 and $900, respectively.

How To Hide Text In Microsoft Word 2007, Reveal It & Protect It

Sometimes what we hide is more important than what we reveal. Especially, documents with sensitive information, some things are supposed to be ‘for some eyes only’. Such scenarios are quite common, even for the more un-secretive among us. You want to show someone a letter composed in MS Word, but want to keep some of the content private; or it’s an official letter with some part of it having critical data. As important as these two are, the most common use could involve a normal printing job. Many a time we have to print different versions of a document, one copy for one set of eyes and others for other sets. Rather than creating multiple copies and therefore multiple printing jobs, what if we could just do it from the same document? That too, without the hassle of repeated cut and paste. We can, with a simple feature in MS Word – it’s just called Hidden and let me show you how to use it to hide text in Microsoft Word 2007. It’s a simple single click process. Open the docum...

Boom, the startup that wants to build supersonic planes, just signed a massive deal with Virgin

Have you heard about Boom? Boom is a relatively new startup that’s aiming to build something pretty crazy. They’re not building an app… or a social network… or even some new gadget for the Kickstarter crowd. Boom wants to build planes. Really, really, really fast planes. Specifically, they’re trying to design and build a supersonic passenger plane that goes 2.2x the speed of sound. If all goes to plan, they’ll be able to shuttle people from New York to London in 3.5 hours, and SF to Tokyo in 4.5. Sound crazy? I wouldn’t disagree. It’s worth noting that the company is in the very early days for something as intensive, massive, and hugely expensive as designing and producing a passenger aircraft. They’re still working on their first prototype, and hope to fly it by late next year. But it’s also worth noting that the team behind the plane has some serious talent in its blood: the company’s 11 employees have collectively contributed to over 30 aircrafts — having worked on thin...

Fun Tools to Translate Your Name into Japanese Calligraphy

Japanese calligraphy is an artistic writing style of the Japanese language. Its Chinese origins can be traced back to the twenty-eighth century BCE. Calligraphy found its way into Japanese culture in 600 CE and is known as the karayo tradition. For Westerners, calligraphy is forever fascinating. However, it takes years to learn how to properly draw the signs. Two basic principles must be known to understand Japanese writing: there are different writing styles and different alphabets. Kaisho for example, is a writing style most commonly used in print media. Tensho on the other hand is used in signatures. Other writing styles are Reisho, Gyosho and Sousho. The alphabets include Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. Katakana is used for writing foreign words. It can also serve to highlight words, in analogy to capital letters as we know them from the Roman / Latin alphabet (Romaji in Japanese). Each Kanji character has a meaning of its own, while Hiragana or Katakana characters merely repres...

Kiran Upadhyay

Search This Blog