Let's Go Surfin' Now With Drones
Drone Boarding Who doesn't love watching a solid surf video. How about drone surfing. The folks at Freefly Systems decided to end the summer with a little fun, showcasing their $17,495 40-pound octocopter, the ALTA 8, to presumably produce a wind surfing experience. A surfer hits some fairly flat water, pulled via drone on what looks like a skimboard. Now, social media has gone off the rails with the real vs not real argument. There are lots of these videos online—even drones that pull snowboarders across fresh powder. Curious what you're thoughts may be too on the fact or fiction on these short films.
Smart Shopping Carts We all know how exhausting it is to walk over and get a shopping cart and then make your way into a store. Thank goodness Wal-Mart has patented a cart that can be hailed via a smart device, much like an Uber, an make its way directly to a customer. Also, the cart would have features including a route optimizer—finding the shortest or best path through a store determined by a shopper's usual purchases. (First found by The Next Web)
Moving Pictures Turn still images into video sounds like a page from Harry Potter. But researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a way to animate still imagery using computers which intuit what action would likely happen next. The results are still crude—blurry with drop out, even renderings that are downright unsettling. But they could point to the next level of machine learning.
More Samsung As if you need more reasons to turn into your Samsung Galaxy Note 7, the New York Post reported that a 6-year-old burned his hands on one of the smartphones as he held the device in his hands. The problems with the phone are almost playing into Apple's hands, which is set to release its iPhone 7 and 7 Plus on Friday.
Smart Dog We're all looking for ways to eat better. Now you can make sure your dog and cat are also eating the right amount—and even check in on them while they're chewing their chow. GearBrain's top choices for connected pet feeders include options with smart phone apps and even web cams.