Alibaba begins drone delivery trials in China. 4 February 2015Last updated at 10:05 ET By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor Alibaba is using small quadcopter drones to make deliveries to its customers China's biggest internet retailer says it has begun testing drone-based deliveries to hundreds of customers.
It says the trial will last three days and be limited to areas within a one-hour flight of its distribution centres in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The company's blog adds that it believes the technology has the potential to speed up deliveries. Amazon, Google and parcel service UPS are among other companies carrying out more private trials of such aircraft. Alibaba is using its drones to deliver orders for a specific type of ginger tea, helping limit the maximum weight of the packages to 340g (12oz). The packages of tea will be locked between the legs of the drones "That said, which company will actually roll out a fully functioning drone-based delivery service remains to be seen and [such a deployment] is still a long way off.
" Drone Ships by BBC World Service Radio. New drone rules proposed to limit warrantless surveillance. Of drone strikes: “Did we just kill a kid?” Drones are one of those pills that even being somewhat effective, are hard to swallow.
PHOTO: REUTERS “Did we just kill a kid?” Asked Bryant, a drone sensor operator. “Yes, I guess so!” Replied the drone pilot. Brandon Bryant’s recent exposé of drone operations killing hundreds of innocent civilians during his service, which led to his post-traumatic stress and retirement, explains the dark side of the CIA led US drone operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. Adding to Bryant’s shock and surprise, his peers believed that they had killed a dog and not a kid that day, and thus it was nothing to worry about. Bryant worked as a drone sensor operator for the USAF from 2006 to 2011, mainly operating from a dark container at a facility in New Mexico. Bryant claims that the operations that he participated in killed more than 1,600 people; the USAF, however, disputes this claim stating that the number killed, in Bryant’s operations alone, are far less. So, are drones good? Droning On For A Moment - DoIT. There was a moment the White House was in lock down earlier this week, all because of a bit of technology we’ve been hearing a lot about lately.
You might not have heard the story because of the East Coast snowstorm coverage, but around 3:00 a.m. on Monday morning, a hobbyist crashed his two foot wide, two pound remote-controlled drone helicopter onto the White House south lawn in Washington D.C. It was too small to be detected by radar, and it brought up a wide array of security questions about their use. Security issues with drones are as limited as your imagination.
Known issues range from the ability to deliver a small payload from a distance, to privacy concerns with surveillance, to stealing data from devices that might access a open Wi-Fi network carried by a drone. When it comes to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, using this type of technology doesn’t appear to be an issue, yet. Drone carrying drugs crashes near US-Mexico border. 22 January 2015Last updated at 07:18 ET The six-propeller drone crashed in a car park A drone carrying more than six pounds (2.7kg) of methamphetamine has crashed near Mexico's border with the US.
Mexican police in Tijuana say they were alerted to an unidentified object in a car park of a shopping centre. "The drone had packages taped to it and was covered with plastic bags containing the drug known as crystal", the local police chief said. Authorities are investigating where the flight originated, who controlled it and where it was bound for. Authorities are investigating who controlled the drone Police say it is not the first time a drone has been used for smuggling drugs across the border. In April, US authorities in South Carolina found a drone outside a prison fence which had been carrying mobile phones, marijuana and tobacco. Other attempts to smuggle drugs have included catapults and ultralight aircraft.