In New Zealand, Your Domino's Delivery Guy Is a Drone

Ever imagine a future where you could order up a cheesy pizza and it would be delivered to your doorstep by drone? The future is here for some lucky people in New Zealand. Pizza chain Domino's teamed up with up with drone delivery service Flirtey to send its pies via the sky.

The companies this week launched what they're calling the "world's first pizza-by-drone" commercial trials. While they're just testing this concept in New Zealand at the moment, the companies plan to expand the operation to other areas of the globe "in the near future."

In this week's tests, Flirtey had able been to successfully deliver hot, fresh pizzas in an urban environment, validating that the system works and that it's "prepared for mass market deliveries around the globe," said the company's CEO, Matthew Sweeny.

"We are moving closer and closer to widespread store-to-door drone delivery," he added.

A lot of customers are on board with this idea. 70% of Domino's customers recently polled said they would be willing to have their pizza delivered via drone.

"We invested in this partnership, and technology, because we believe drone delivery will be an essential component of our pizza deliveries, so even more customers can receive the freshest, hottest pizza we can offer," added Domino's Group CEO and Managing Director Don Meij. "Drones offer the promise of safer, faster deliveries to an expanded delivery area, meaning more customers can expect to receive a freshly made order within our ultimate target of 10 minutes. This is the future."

Flirtey's autonomous, electric drones are made from carbon fibre, aluminium, and 3D-printed components. They lower cargo via tether, and are programmed to return to a safe location if the battery is running low, and automatically return home if they lose communication or encounter a low GPS signal.

In 2013, Domino's teased drone delivery in the UK via a video featuring the 'DomiCopter', though it had largely been viewed as a marketing stunt at the time rather than an actual service.

Drone technology has changed a lot in three years. In the US, Chipotle recently teamed up with Google's parent company, Alphabet, to deliver burritos by drone at Virginia Tech, one of the FAA's six approved drone test sites.

Hands On With GoPro's Karma Drone

The GoPro Karma drone has been a long time in the making. The company first teased a new line of 'multi-rotor helicopters' outfitted with high-definition cameras two years ago, and hinted that sales would begin in early 2016.

Then the Photokina 2016 unveiling happened. Thus, the world now knows the GoPro Karma is a concrete product.

Of course, it won't go on sale until October 23, which had been last week. At a launch event near Lake Tahoe, California, Nick Woodman, CEO of GoPro, offered some vaguely apologetic explanations for the drone's lengthy development. Based on PCMag's quick hands on, this is a drone that needs no apology.

Besides the fact that it's easy to fly, the GoPro Karma works with the GoPro Hero4, a camera that many outdoor enthusiasts already have in their backpacks. That enables a relatively low US$799 price tag, though pricier bundles with the new GoPro Hero5 Black cameras are also available.

The drone itself won't surprise you. It's a fairly ordinary quad-copter, though it does fold to fit in a backpack and has very bright lights that make it easy to identify against the deep blue Sierra Nevada sky.

Notably, the first thing about the GoPro Karma that makes you raise your eyebrows is the controller. Unlike the DJI Phantom 3, it has a built-in, 720p touch screen display, making for a flying experience that feels a bit like a videogame.

KarmaDroneWeb5

To engage automatic take-off, you hold down the centre button until a countdown timer appears on the screen. After a few seconds, the rotors roar to life and the drone lifts off. The screen then switches to a livestream from the camera; you can adjust the gimbal using the left and right trigger buttons on the controller.

A nudge on the right joystick will free the GoPro Karma from hover mode and send it skyward at a deliberate pace. Even if you flick the joysticks to the stops, the drone responds slowly. This is good for the gusty mountain winds during the test flight, but might not be optimal for quick maneuvering in calm weather.

KarmaDroneWeb3

I flew the drone for approximately four minutes, or 20% of its battery life. I never felt like I had to battle the strong winds nor did I have the opportunity to push the drone to its limits or modify the flight controls' responsiveness. During the entire flight, the video feed appeared smooth, with the camera set to record in 1080p at 60fps.

When it is time to land, you can either activate the 'return to home' feature, or manually guide the GoPro Karma to the ground. I opted to do the latter with assistance from an ever-watchful GoPro pilot.

KarmaDroneWeb1

Incidentally, by the time the GoPro Karma ships, the GoPro Passenger app will be ready for download as well, allowing friends to connect to your GoPro Karma contoller, view the live video from the GoPro camera, and even control the camera's direction by adjusting the gimbal. The app makes a wireless connection directly to the controller, so video should appear as smooth as it is on the controller's screen.

Obviously, the app isn't ready for the test flight.

Interestingly, even as I handed over the controller, my GoPro Karma experience is not yet finished: the US$799 Karma base price includes the GoPro Karma grip, an accessory that I found to be essentially like a mini Steadicam. The fact that GoPro is including it with the drone is a bit puzzling, since it has nothing to do with flying. If you have a spare hand to film, though, it will make your on-the-ground action shots look so much better than if you rely solely on the camera's built-in image stabiliser.

KarmaDroneWeb6

It would be tempting to have left Lake Tahoe convinced that GoPro Karma will be a worthy DJI competitor—the four-minute flight is nothing short of being very good. However, too much uncertainty remains: GoPro engineers are still putting the finishing touches on the GoPro Passenger app and it's unclear how the drone controller will handle some of the most advanced drone features, like autoflight, landing at a set home location, 4K video, and adjusting flight controls.

Still, it's clear that GoPro means business and at least two features—a palatable price and a household name—will work in the company's favor even if the GoPro Karma can't deliver on its promises.

Ultrahaptics Lets You 'Feel' Virtual Objects

Virtual reality (VR) has been around for decades, but it's re-emerged as 'new technology' in recent years thanks to research work that is backed with the deep pockets of Facebook and Sony, among others.
However, while the visuals have improved significantly, there are still some big problems VR has to overcome. One of the biggest is being able to feel objects that only exist virtually.

One promising solution is haptic holograms, a concept that use sound waves to allow you to feel objects that don't exist in reality. Such ideas first came about in 2014, but the world is only now starting to see the technology come to market, with Ultrahaptics as a front-runner.

While not limited to use with VR, Ultrahaptics's mid-air touch-less haptic tech is sure to get a welcome boost through association and the promise of being able to feel the virtual objects at that users are looking. A Ultrahaptic Touch development kit is set for release in January next year and takes the form of a plug-and-play pad that can be set up in a matter of minutes.

The control system measures 29 x 18.6 x 22.1cm, has a focal point accuracy of 8.6mm and can interact with your hands at a minimum height of 50cm above the pad.



Users are also limited to a 60-degree cone of interaction from the center of the pad upwards. The development kit can be used with Windows 8 and 10 or Mac OSX 10.9 onwards. Ultrahaptics recommended an Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB RAM, and a dedicated graphics card as the specs to use if its Ultrahaptic Touch is to reach its full potential.

Ultrahaptics TOUCH pad in action
Placing your hands above the pad allows for a range of touch sensations. This is achieved through a combination of hand tracking and a 14-by-14 grid of ultrasound transducers. Invisible buttons, dials, and switches, as well as a range of textures and sensations, like bubbles popping against fingers, can all be simulated. Think of it like a gesture-control system, but being able to literally grab objects in mid-air to carry out the gesture.

According to IEEE Spectrum, the Ultrahaptic Touch dev kit costs around US$2,000. While it may seem high, it is a huge drop from the US$20,000 evaluation kit that shipped previously. It also bodes well for an eventual consumer version shipping for significantly less if the same drop happens again. A price of under US$200 would make it a very tempting proposition.

First Look: Audi and LG's Mysterious WebOS Smartwatch

Audi and LG don't want to talk about the webOS smartwatch. The car company made a splash here at CES when it showed tap-to-unlock technology in the new Audi S7 using a tablet, phone, and a previously unseen LG smartwatch. The watch's user interface doesn't look like Android Wear (see the images below), and after a closer look at the watch, reporters from Android Central saw that it said it was running Open webOS.

After LG folks told me that there was actually no webOS smartwatch, I ended up talking to visibly frustrated Audi automotive security engineer Roman Kochanek. "It's a prototype," he sighed. "Some people say they saw a settings screen which says it's webOS. We're not saying it's webOS."

Well, obviously, it is a webOS smartwatch. But presumably what LG and Kochanek were trying to get across was that the companies may have no plans to release this model, for now. Kochanek said it was a co-developed prototype designed with a phone-like "secure element" so it could activate the new S7's remote unlock and start functions.

The remote-unlock feature can also let you "lend" keys to your friends' smartphones and smartwatches, Kochanek said, showing a Samsung phone that could open not only his demo vehicle, but two of his friends'. All of the devices involved need the Audi app and the appropriate security hardware.

The Audi/LG smartwatch's body is very similar to LG's existing G Watch R . The watch has Audi branding on the watch face, but an LG logo on the band clasp. The UI is like a spiral of built-in and third-party apps retreating into the distance. The apps include a phone dialer, SMS, music player, step tracker, calendar, language translator, email, voice recorder, and some things that were in Korean.

In any case, things have gotten more locked down since yesterday, when Android Authority and The Verge were both able to get the watches off of the Audi engineers' wrists. Kochanek kept driving the watch back to its remote-unlock and remote-start functions, both of which are cool but not what everyone's going crazy about: a full-scale smartwatch OS with a clearer and more usable interface than the pervasive and disappointingly confusing Android Wear.

Kochanek said that the Audi remote-unlock function will come to more smartwatches than this one, as long as they have NFC and the appropriate security hardware. As for the LG webOS smartwatch line, which The Wall Street Journal says is a real thing, we might learn more at Mobile World Congress at the end of February.

G-Technology's New Hard Drives Can Take a Beating

At CES today, G-Technology added a pair of hard drives to its G-Drive ev lineup. The G-Drive ev RaW with Rugged Bumper and G-Drive ev ATC are made for the photographers and videographers who travel to distant lands, particularly those who are rough on their equipment.

The G-Drive ev RaW with Rugged Bumper is a 7,200rpm hard drive with a SATA and USB 3.0 interface designed to work with the G-Dock ev with Thunderbolt. This time, the ev cartridge is painted black, and is 35 percent lighter than the silver G-Drive ev cartridge. As its name indicates, it comes with a cushioning bumper that will protect the drive from a 1.5 meter drop. You'll need to remove the bumper to use the ev RaW with the G-Dock, but you can use the drive as is with the included USB 3.0 cable in day-to-day use. The drive is formatted HFS+ for Macs, but you can reformat it for Windows use.

The G-Drive ev RaW comes in a 500GB capacity for US$99.95 and 1TB capacity for US$129.99. Look for it in stores later this month.

G-Technology G-Drive ev ATCYou'll also find a G-Drive ev RaW cartridge in the new G-Drive ev ATC with Thunderbolt and G-Drive ATC with USB. Essentially, the G-Drive ev ATC adds a watertight case in place of the rugged bumper. Both ev ATC drives have a 2.0 meter drop spec, and are water tight up to 1 foot submerged for 30 seconds. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it will save your data from a quick drop and dunk in liquid. The G-Drive ev ATC will also float, helping you recover the drive if it falls overboard on a scuba trip.

As their names suggest, one version has a tethered Thunderbolt cable, while the other has a tethered USB 3.0 cable: you can't lose either as long as you have the drive. The ev RaW cartridge is removable for use in the G-Dock ev.

The G-Drive ev ATC with Thunderbolt goes for US$229.95 (1TB) or $129.95 (for just the case), the USB version is US$179.95 (1TB) or US$79.95 (case only). The ev ATC case works with most G-Drive ev cartridges, though the G-Drive ev 220 is too thick to be used with the case. Look for the Thunderbolt drive and case later this month, with the USB versions in February.

MediaTek Doubles Down on Android at CES

MediaTek on Tuesday introduced several new hardware platforms supporting Google-developed software for wearables and smart TV applications.

The Taiwan-based semiconductor firm, known primarily for its chipsets powering smartphones and other mobile devices, kicked off 2015 with an Android-heavy lineup of new processor platforms at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Leading off, MediaTek's new MT2601 System-on-a-Chip (SoC) for wearables is optimized for devices running Android Wear software. It sports a dual-core, 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A7 application processor with ARM Mali-400 MP-based graphics and supports qHD display resolution for wearables in a compact package measuring 480 mm2. A "whole host" external sensors are supported by the SoC, which interfaces with MediaTek's MT6630 for Bluetooth connectivity.

The MT2601, now in production and sampling to MediaTek partners, has "41.5 percent fewer components" and a lower power draw relative to similar SoCs for wearables on the market, according to the company.

"The MT2601 has an incredibly small die size and is highly optimized for cost and power performance. The platform solution, comprised of MT2601 integrated with Android Wear software, will fuel the maker revolution and empower the application developer community worldwide to create a broad range of innovative applications and services," J.C. Hsu, MediaTek's general manager of new business development, said in a statement.

MediaTek also unveiled a pair of SoCs designed in collaboration with Google for Android TV.

The MT5595 is a quad-core SoC incorporating ARM's big.LITTLE chip design architecture with two ARM Cortex-A17 processor cores matched with a pair of ARM Cortex-A7 cores. The MT5595 delivers current HDTV-quality visual computing and supports 4k/Ultra HD video playback at 60 frames-per-second via the Google VP9 and HEVC codecs.

"MediaTek has a strong heritage and a leading position in the TV SoC business. By introducing the world's first Android TV devices, we are demonstrating a fast pace of innovation and strong commitment to the home entertainment business," said Mohit Bhushan, MediaTek's head of U.S. business development. "MediaTek is proud to integrate Android 5.0 Lollipop software in its chipset portfolio and significantly improve the consumers' engagement model with their TVs."

Meanwhile, MediaTek also has audio covered in its burgeoning Google partnership with its new MT8507 audio SoC. The chip is designed for the Internet giant's new Google Cast for audio software and "will power a delightful home audio experience that allows consumers to easily connect with Google Cast Ready speakers and sound bars from their personal devices, such as iPhone, iPad, Android smartphones and tablets, Macbooks and Windows PCs, using Google Cast ready applications," MediaTek said.

MediaTek's MT5595 and MT8507 SoCs are also currently in production and should start appearing in consumer devices in early 2015.

4K HDTVs Will (Finally) Arrive in 2015

If it's rectangular, glows, and has a moving picture on it, it's going to be at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) next week. Las Vegas is again hosting the biggest trade show for home entertainment devices, which will offer us a glimpse into the future of HDTVs.

Specifically, be on the lookout for the finally-here future of ultra-high-definition televisions (UHD or 4K). HDTVs are well-established and commonplace, and most users are accustomed to 1,920-by-1,080 resolution. Well, 2015 could be the year a good number of us finally quadruple that resolution (hence the "4K" designation) to 3,840 by 2,160.

4K televisions have been around for a few years, but they haven't quite clicked with most consumers for two reasons. First, they have been much more expensive than 1080p televisions. Second, there simply hasn't been much content available in 4K. HDTV manufacturers have been steadily chipping away at the first problem, and streaming media services are working hard to fix the second.

You'll still have to pay a premium for 4K next year, but expect that price to stabilize around $2,000 to $3,000 for big screens from major manufacturers, and a few to even squeak into the $1,500 to $2,000 range. With more companies making more 4K panels in more sizes, the technology has steadily become more affordable across the board. It's no longer just a small handful of display manufacturers carefully rolling a few UHD panels off of freshly built and configured assembly lines. Every major HDTV brand either already has 4K televisions in their lineup or will announce them at CES, and in either case case they'll be showing off new and more affordable 4K screens at the show.

Streaming Is the Future
That leaves the problem of 4K content (or lack thereof). We need a reason to invest in 4K, even if that investment is becoming more affordable. Sony and Samsung have tried offering their own proprietary sources of 4K movies and shows (Sony's UHD 4K streaming player and Samsung's hard drive full of 4K movies), but we haven't seen a physical media format to actually let us buy and play higher-resolution content.
We probably still won't at CES 2015. That's where YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus, Vudu, and other streaming-video services come in. YouTube has supported 4K content for over a year, Netflix began streaming some shows in 4K earlier this year, and Amazon Instant Video started offering 4K programming just last month. Expect that trend to continue not just with those three, but with other major streaming services, too.

Beyond 4K
4K is the forseeable future for HDTVs, but expect new numbers followed by K to be peppered through CES. Some manufacturers will show 8K or higher resolution HDTVs, but these aren't displays you need to worry about for the next few years. 4K hasn't really made its mark, and higher-resolution televisions are proofs of concept designed to show off what the future will be like. They can carefully build the panels to demonstrate at CES, but don't expect any of them to see retail release until at least 2017. And they won't be affordable until at least 2020.

Not Just 4K
Besides 4K, expect a continued push for curved displays as an alternative to flat panels. Curved screens are certainly eye-catching, but we're still not sold on them being worth the premium they currently demand. With 4K becoming more prominent among consumers, curved screens might see less emphasis this year than last year since the higher resolution is a more compelling feature for users. At the very least, though, Samsung will keep pitching curved HDTVs.
More importantly, we'll see new OLED displays come out. With plasma now officially dead, OLED is stepping in to become the future of high-end HDTVs. The new technology (which is not remotely like regular LED-lit LCD technology, despite the similar name) can offer perfect blacks and excellent colors in thinner panels than the LCDs now used in nearly all HDTVs on the market. Keep an eye out for new, bigger, and more affordable (at least, some combination of those three) OLED HDTVs for 2015.

New GoPro Lineup Appeals to Daredevils and Daytrippers

In the market for an action camera? GoPro has some new options ranging from $500 to just $129.

The company on Monday unveiled the Hero4, its highest-performance camera line ever. The Hero4 comes in two editions: the cream-of-the-crop Black version for $500 and a $400 Silver model, both of which will be available Oct. 5.

The Black edition delivers two times the performance of its predecessor, the two year-old Hero3. It can capture "cinema quality" 4K video at 30 frames per second, 2.7K video at 50fps, and 1080p video at 120fps, "virtually eliminating rolling shutter in most scenarios while allowing for time-bending slow motion effects." The Black Hero4 also features a new audio system that captures high-fidelity sound with twice the dynamic range of previous models.

Other enhancements include improved image quality, low-light performance, highlight moment tagging, and an improved user interface that offers easier access to key features and controls.

Hero4 silverThe silver model (right) features the same image quality as the black version, minus some of the higher performance video capture modes such as 4K30, 2.7K50, and 1080p120. It has a new built-in touch display for easier self-capture.

Meanwhile, if both of those models are a little too expensive, the company also on Monday debuted the Hero for $129. Described as the "perfect entry-level GoPro," the Hero features a rugged, waterproof housing and is capable of capturing 1080p video at 30fps and 720p video at 60fps.

"For the past 12 years, our passion has been to make it easy for people to self-capture jaw dropping, professional quality footage of themselves engaged in their favorite activities," GoPro founder and CEO, Nicholas Woodman, said in a statement. "That passion led us to embark on our most ambitious design and engineering effort ever, and the result is nothing short of the ultimate GoPro — the Hero4 Black. We can't wait to see what the world captures with it."

For more on the Hero4, check out the video below. Also see PCMag's full review of the Hero3 White Edition and 15 Crazy GoPro Stunt Videos You Must Watch.

Google Cast: Stream Audio to Your Speakers, Dongle-Free

You know all the cool shenanigans you can get up to with Chromecast, and now Google wants to extend this streaming functionality beyond the dongle. The company today unveiled its "Google Cast" technology, which will allow users to send audio streams directly from the cloud to their speaker.

You can use your device to cast an audio signal to any speaker fitted with Google Cast. Like Chromecast, the stream isn't transmitted from your device—rather, it comes directly from your local Wi-Fi network. Your device, in effect, is only the remote control. Unlike Chromecast, Google Cast doesn't function via a dongle or extra piece of hardware—it will come inside speakers from partner manufactures such as Denon, Sony, and LG. Google promises cast-ready speakers from these manufacturers and others will be available "later in 2015."

Users can interface with Google Cast via their mobile device (both Android and iOS) or the Chrome browser on their computer. Google has already announced partnerships with content providers such as NPR, Pandora, iHeart radio, Rdio, TuneIn, and BeyondPod.

As you might have already imagined, you will also be able to stream content on Google Cast from Google-owned properties such as Songza, Google Play Music, and possibly more. The company didn't say explicitly, but if you watch the promotional video for Google Cast (below), it appears that you will also be able to cast just the audio section of a YouTube clip.

The company promises that Google Cast speakers will "join a growing Google Cast ecosystem, which includes more Android TVs, game consoles, and set-top boxes."