Outdoor testing of the AR Drone 2.0 – In 30km/h High winds!

I took the drone out for some outdoor flying at the local oval however seems even though Melbourne put on a spectacular sunny day (28 degrees) it brought gusty windows up to 30km/h which made flying a real challenge.

Suffice to say I ended up crashing quite a few times and gave up after 1 battery and damaging the indoor hull by breaking the outer spar. I was able to repair the hull with some epoxy glue and tape and expect a few more of these and will need a new hull eventually.

The video from the front facing 720p camera was spectacular especially during low high speed runs.

Looking forward to a less windy day to really put this thing through it’s paces!

5 minute youtube video below:

Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Quadracopter – OMG!

OMG I knew these were cool but I had no idea just how cool the Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Quadracopter really was!

Seriously if you can get your hands on one of these do it! I’ve driven and flown other RC models before and helicopters are the hardest to learn to fly but this thing takes all the hard work out of it and makes it easy to learn and become quite proficient quickly and with very little damage.

Did I say very little damage?

Yep this thing is built like a tank, well almost! It’s airframe is made of graphite composite surrounded by a dense polystyrene outer safety cell and comes with a full ring type polystyrene indoor hull that protects the 4 properller blades from damage. Speaking of the blades these are also quite sturdy and flexable and after a few hours flight time mine have a few nicks and scrapes but overall are intact. I’ve crashed my drone at least 2 dozen times complete with a couple of high speed flips and burrows and I’ve only managed to crack the outer indoor hull once which I repaired with epoxy glue and tape.

This thing hovers automatically. If you take your hands off the controls it immediately stops in its tracks and goes into auto hover mode which is great if you get into trouble. Just let go and it stops even at high speed with a sudden correction in the opposite direction and just stops mid-air! It’s unbelievable at the smarts this thing has which is helped by an array of sensors built into the electronics. Did I mention this has 2 cameras on board? The forward facing camera is a 720p HD camera and there is a SD camera in the belly you can use for arial recon and the brains uses the belly camera to lock onto targets to hover over. There is also an ultrasonic transmitter and receiver as well which tells it how far it is off the ground up to 3 meters. Top this off with a full gyro and some other neat stuff and some very smart software this is quite a powerful piece of kit and yet at under $350 retail is a bargain for what it can do compared to many more expensive RC helicopters and even quadracopters!

I’ve gotten about 3.5 hours total flight time on my drone so far. Battery life is on average about 10-12 minutes but if you start doing some funky spins and flips (yes I said flips!!!) or your flying in high winds the battery life drains considerably. You can get aftermarket batteries which can almost double the flight time. Suffice to say it pays to pick up a few spare batteries and chargers. Batteries retail for about $50 and chargers about $40 and it’s a good idea to buy one charger per battery as these packs take up to 90 minutes per charge and it pays to at least have a 2-1 battery to charger ratio so you always have a pack ready to go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok getting back to flips. Yes this drone can flip itself left or right or front or back completely in a 360 degree flip and recover mid-air and keep flying. You need to be at least 1 to 2 meters off the ground to do this especially in high winds otherwise the drone tends to bump the ground when it comes out of the flip but usually can keep flying. All you need to do a flip is get it up high enough off the ground and activate the flip command in whatever direction you want and away it goes! The controlling apps you can get for the AR Drone can be programmed to do other stunts as well but the flip is especially built into the firmware as Parrot have obviously spent a lot of time and parts working out how to get this drone to do this!

Speaking of the controlling apps, this drone is controlled using your iPhone or iPad or Android phone using either the factory Parrot apps or many aftermarket apps which have more features including a dance app that allows you to sequence many preprogrammed dance moves into a sequence to control 1 or more drones in a dance routine. Quite cool to watch! The app connects to the drone using 802.11n WiFi networkin using an adhoc network and range depends on the device you use, channel, and other interference around but I found I could easily fly 30-50 meters without getting out of range. You can also use a WiFi range extender/repeater to help extend the control range.

But what happens if you get out of range you ask? Well Parrot thought of this too and whenever the drone loses its control signal will immediately halt and hover. If it is above safe hover height (3 meters due to ultrasonice range) then it will slowly lower itself down until it detects something underneath and will then continue to hover until you come back into range or it runs out of battery at which point it will auto land when it gets down to an emergency level. This also works when in range if you get down to below 5% battery it will immediately land before it runs out of enough power to safely control itself in a landing.

Below is a short 5 minute video I compiled with my first few hours of flight including some spectacular crashes and stunts:

So after a few hours of flight I have to tell you I am totally addicted. I plan on getting some spares soon especially a new hull and props just in case but I plan on putting this drone through its paces over the next couple of weeks including some outdoor flying on an oval around the corner from my home. There is an extensive modding community for the AR Drone complete with aftermarket parts, software and other mod ideas to make it more fun to fly.

I totally recommend anyone who is into flying or RC models to check the Parrot AR Drone 2.0 out. Stay tuned over coming days as I post other articles and ideas on the AR Drone as I get more into this addiction err i mean hobby 🙂

I’m back… it’s been awhile!

Hi everyone,

I’m back after a long hiatus, yes it’s been awhile!

It indeed has been a crazy time, work and personal commitments have kept me busy and the motivation to keep updates going was just not there.

But I’ll try to keep things updated a bit more.

So what’s been going on? LOTS!

We saw lots of Apple things happening, indeed the IT sector has been buzzing like never before with the OS wars, the tablet wars, the smartphone wars, patent wars and lots of new shiney gadgets and fuzzy feel good marketing to make us part with our hard earned dollars.

I’ve yet to update to a new iPad 3, although I’ve seen how good they are and Apple doesn’t disappoint!

It will be interesting to see what the next iteration of the iPhone will bring. Rumours suggest a larger screen, faster, more storage and more internal gadgets to make us want one.

Let’s see what comes next!

How USB memory sticks and cards are made…

I saw this and had to share a video by Lexmar on how they make their USB keys and SD cards.

Tablet Wars 2011 Motorola, Samsung, RIM, HP and Apple

Posted: April 12, 2011 by mrinternet  on Melbourne News Knũt

Some Content Courtesy of Redmond Pie
For Jenny (no comment)
By Loren

Apple iPad2 vs. Samsung Galaxy 10.1 vs Motorola Xoom vs RIM Blackberry Playbook vs HP TouchPad

I have had a few folks asking me about a Tablet preferences of iPad vs this or that. But it is not that easy. For now as of 12 April 2011, there are 4 tablets worth really considering, and a few more soon.

I made a conscious descion a while ago to avoid the Android Google world. But with new versions out I am being tempted more than ever.

I ditched my iPhone some months ago and I must admit I do miss it often as I have an iPad.

This is relevant as I have not seen a good phone, that plays well with another manufacturer tablet operating system, and having 2 inventories of apps to keep up with is a pain. In this day and age where our pc, mobile phone, and tablet are all part of our lives having them not play well togethermakes life hard.

I realised this when my windows phone 7 phone, did not do much, an idea I kind of liked, but now feel very inhibited.
But the apple iPhones are feeling rather dated as well.

So I have a new Google Motorola ATRIX, arriving soon, the latest mobile not out in Australia yet and an android.
This might mean I also cosider ditching my iPad in favour of an android tablet, we will see.

I hear the Andoid store is a mess as there are so many versions of android, that you cannot tell when you purchase an app if it will work with your device or not. That is silly, I will see in my next review how good or bad the andoid app library is.

The other thing to consider is iTunes. I hate iTunes as much as I love my iPad. But you need it really to manage the iPad.

So It Really is Google vs Apple

Again this is relevant because I think keeping to one platform  for phone and tablet might be the best way to go.

• If you own an iPhone and plan to keep it, I would stay with iPad.
• If you are considering seriously getting a tablet other than an iPad (as I am now), then you seriously might want to consider a phone form the same operation system, if you have or are considering an Android phone, you have more choice available on the tablet from but I think the Motorola XOOM is one to watch.

All the tablets have their own merits and flaws, here is a view of all 4.

The Reviews
Some Content Courtesy of Redmond Pie

Well, it’s finally here. Apple recently launched the anticipated 2nd-generation iPad. With Google’s Android, RIM’s BlackBerry powered PlayBook, and HP’s webOS getting fancy new tablets either recently or in the future, buyers are going to be spoilt for choice when it comes to selecting a new slate device.

We thought we’d take a closer look at the iPad 2′s four main competitors in the tablet space: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Motorola Zoom, HP/Palm’s TouchPad and BlackBerry PlayBook.

Apple iPad 2

First up we’ve got the new kid on the block, Apple’s iPad 2. Announced by Steve Jobs to be powered by a dual-core CPU that’s supposedly twice as fast as the current iPad. The new graphics chips are ’9x faster’ too. Impressive, at least on paper. In typical Apple fashion, we don’t have actual figures other than the usual dimensions. Thickness? 8.8mm. That’s one third thinner than the current model.

Interestingly, the new iPad 2 features two cameras, one rear and one front facing and the most interesting specification of them all is the availability of the new white iPad. Apple couldn’t get a white iPhone 4 out the door but no such issues with the iPad 2.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Samsung showed off its new Galaxy Tab 10.1 at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, with the new tablet hoping to build on the success of its smaller sibling.

Sporting a new 10.1-inch 1280×800 display (hence the name), the new Tab boasts some impressive specifications. Powering that new screen is a 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 CPU with both front and rear facing cameras providing the video input. The Tab’s rear camera is capable of HD video recording and has the now obligatory in-built flash.

Software-wise, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 will run the latest and greatest from Google’s Android stable, namely 3.0 Honeycomb.

Motorola Xoom

Another Honeycomb-endowed offering is Motorola’s Xoom. Recently released in the United States, the Xoom has been very well received by the gadget press. Arguably a very similar machine to the Galaxy Tab 10.1 – at least spec-wise – the Xoom’s party piece is its LTE capability. The downside here is the wait. Early-adopters will need to send their unit away for a hardware upgrade in order to take advantage of LTE speeds. Fortunately a quick turnaround is promised by Motorola, with 6 days the expected wait.

With the Xoom being powered by Google’s Android OS in its latest Honeycomb guise, there is little to differentiate it from the Galaxy Tab 10.1 when it comes to software. The main difference? The Xoom is in stores now!

HP TouchPad

Originally expected to go under the Palm name, the TouchPad will run on a new version of webOS. Now at version 3.0, webOS is promising to be a truly tablet-optimized experience. Even during the Pre’s death-throws, many believed the OS was the phone’s best attribute and a tablet was always the logical home for a future updated version.

HP isn’t scrimping on the hardware front either. A 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core CPU is the heart of the machine, with 1GB of RAM keeping the CPU busy. An iPad-like 9.7-inch 1024×768 screen is used, along with all the usual radios we’ve come to expect, including a 4G one. The TouchPad does sport a front-facing camera, though there’s nothing around the back.

BlackBerry PlayBook

With PlayBook, Research In Motion (RIM) is the fourth major platform (in no particular order) after Android, iOS and webOS to enter the Tablet Wars. PlayBook features 1Ghz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, 1080p HD video playback and HDMI output.

Powered by BlackBerry Tablet OS with UI designed by QNX, RIM’s PlayBook is expected to hit retail shelves in April this year.

Which device you ultimately stump up for very much depends what you want from a tablet device. Apple’s iPad 2 has the massive advantage of being tied into the largest App Store on the planet, though many would also consider that to be its biggest weakness. If you’re the tinkering type, and prefer the more gritty approach of Android then the Xoom or Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be right up your street. The Android Market is constantly growing though the quality of apps perhaps isn’t quite there just yet, and Honeycomb promises a new raft of software specifically designed for tablets. HP’s offering is a real unknown at this point. A new OS, with new hardware from a company that hasn’t done well with mobile devices in the recent-past could prove disastrous though we doubt it. What we’ve already seen of the TouchPad looks mighty impressive, and the thought of webOS on a 9.7-inch screen excites us. Same goes for RIM’s BlackBerry powered PlayBook. Will there be enough apps for HP’s new tablet or RIM’s PlayBook? That’s the real question.

Ultimately the decision as to which tablet is right for you is a personal one. Many will plump for the safety and security of iOS while others want the power of Android. A few will even want to take a chance on the TouchPad or PlayBook, and who could blame them? We’re not sure where our money will be going, but today’s iPad 2 announcement sure makes for an interesting few months ahead.

Is 2011 the year of the tablet? You betcha!

This Is The iPhone 4 Case For Hipstamatic Junkies

By Adrian Covert on April 29, 2011 at 10:40 AM on Gizmodo

If you spend half your day snapping Hipstamatic photos on your iPhone 4 or sharing your on Instagram via stylised photography, the HipstaCase was made for you.

Hipstamatic teamed up with accessory maker Agent 18 to fashion the HipstaCase, which takes on the likeness of the toy cameras that inspired the photo app to begin with. It also comes with a tripod mount and a loop to add a japanese charm to your phone, which some of us love. It’s $US40, and if you pre-order before May 5, shipping is free. [Mashable]

HTC to Use USB Port for HDMI Video

By Janko Roettgers Jan. 10, 2011, 8:00am PDT on Gigaom

HTC will be one of the first mobile device manufacturers to embrace a new standard that makes it possible to connect mobile phones straight to a TV’s HDMI port without adding any extra ports to the phone itself, according to a report from heise.de. The technology, dubbed MHL, uses a phone’s Micro USB port and a special converter chip to transmit HD video to the TV set. It could put further pressure on handheld HD cameras like Cisco’s Flip, which tend to offer Micro HDMI ports for easy playback of HD footage on the TV screen.

MHL, which stands for “Mobile High-Definition Link,” has been developed by Silicon Image, one of the companies also involved in the development of the HDMI standard. MHL was first demonstrated at CES three years ago, and eventually led to the foundation of a consortium, which finalized the technology’s specifications last summer. The MHL Consortium is finalizing the certification of first mobile phones and TV sets in the coming two weeks, according to heise.de, and first devices could reach the market as early as this summer. HTC is reportedly one of the companies that will be part of this first wave of MHL-compatible mobile devices.

The new technology supports playback of 1080p HD video and 7.1 audio. End users will simply use a USB-to-HDMI cable to connect their phone to the TV, and MHL chips in the phone as well as the TV set will do the rest to properly transmit the video signal. MHL can also be used the charge the phone, and the technology even offers a control channel that will make it possible to control the phone via your TV remote. Existing TVs that don’t offer an integrated MHL chip will be able to utilize video from MHL mobile phones through external adapters.

If successful, MHL could have a couple of interesting implications: Mobile phones are increasingly competing with the Flip and similar consumer HD camcorders. However, even phones with HD recording capabilities oftentimes don’t offer any easy way to actually share the HD footage. Apple is trying to solve this with Airplay, but what if you didn’t even need an Apple TV to watch HD video on your TV screen?

I’m also looking forward to the day that someone comes out with a Roku or a Boxee Box powered by your TV. One less device to plug into that power strip, and also, one less device that’s adding to your power bill while in standby mode. But the real kicker here seems to be that phones could become a kind of HD media center in your pocket. Imagine you’re in a hotel room. You plug your phone into the TV, and immediately have access to HD movies via Netflix, while your phone is charging up for your next work day. What’s not to like about that?

An iPhone Case That Opens Beer Bottles Too

9 January 2011 8:00 AM on Gizmodo

I’m surprised I never thought about this before. The iBottle iPhone case combines two of the modern man’s most used tools—his phone and a bottle opener—in one. This way, you’ll always know where your phone is when you drink.

It’s 20 bucks at baronbob for the iPhone 3G/3GS version. The iPhone 4 version is available for pre-order (for the same price) and coming this month. Hope that glass back can take the stress! [baronbob]

Cool USB Desk Mic

10 January 2011 7:00 AM on Gizmodo

Simple. A bit retro. Something I could see a future Conan O’Brien or David Letterman-style talk show host having on their virtual desk as they interview OK Go about the video they just shot on the Moon. The Meteor Mic:

Made by the microphone-happy Samson, the Meteor Mic is powered by USB, requires no drivers and as technabob notes has a headphone input for monitoring your work. What can I say? I’m a sucker for new things that look old (have fun with that one in the comments).

Available in April for $US99. [technabob]

Steve Jobs’ New Year’s Resolutions Found On Starbucks Napkin

Palo Alto, CA — Uh-oh. Another piece of top-secret Apple material has been left behind in a public place. 

Only this time the culprit is Steve Jobs himself.

A napkin bearing Steve’s hand-scrawled New Year’s resolutions was picked up by an astute patron in a Palo Alto Starbucks after the Apple CEO rushed out to take a call.

After a brief bidding war with Gizmodo, Scoopertino has taken possession of the napkin and proudly presents this teardown:

The napkin is standard-issue Starbucks beige. Written in what appears to be a thin Sharpie, black, are ten numbered resolutions. It cannot be determined if they are in ascending or descending order of importance. Three mug stains appear to be random.

Some of Steve’s resolutions are shocking and/or surprising, while others suggest a playful CEO who enjoys pranking the likes of Mark Zuckerberg — and fleeing the likes of Steve Wozniak.

Resolution #1 — Keep the Verizon myth going — will likely rock Wall Street today. Resolution #5 — Reject more apps, just for fun — shows a CEO who delights in his work. Resolution #9 may have even the most fervent Apple fans questioning their faith — Upgrade to iPhone 4 when antenna gets fixed.

Apple’s PR department declined to respond, saying they do not comment on unreleased resolutions.

This post originally appeared on Scoopertino.