Comments on: British Army deploys tiny helicopters

By: 20 Mike Mike

20 Mike Mike — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 17:03:11 +0000

Poorly and incompletely expressed, Camax…so when drones hover over one area, do you suppose that criminals might think to move to another site? I have a better idea. How about view screens in every room. Advances in facial recognition and crime/behavioral predicting software could enable a pre-crime response. We could call that group “thought police”. How’s that sound to your incomplete brain? It appears that you want to live in a world where there are no skinned knees or bloody noses…how likely is that?

No cloud of machines, cameras, or programs is ever going to solve the human equation. This life is not a destination, but a proving ground where we get to know ourselves and just who and what we really are; and glimpse what we may become if we are wise.

“You needn’t take it any further, sir. You’ve proved to me that all this ultraviolence and killing is wrong, wrong, and terribly wrong. I’ve learned me lesson, sir. I’ve seen now what I’ve never seen before. I’m cured! Praise Bog! I’m cured!
I was cured alright.”
― Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange

By: steve

steve — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:48:07 +0000

You are a stupid, stupid coward. No wonder your once great country was turned so easily into a fascist police state.

By: steve

steve — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:45:28 +0000

Couldn’t you get the same effect with a mirror on a stick? i will call it Visibllitystick and sell it to the military for £100K a time

By: Bri

Bri — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 03:23:27 +0000

Nah. It just gets plowed under. Something new will sprout up in it’s place.( Om Nama Shivia or everything eventually dies. It’s just opposite sides of a coin)

By: Ruggero

Ruggero — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 02:44:42 +0000

Flight time? I guess they need to be recharged after 30 minutes of operation…

By: Editor

Editor — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 00:13:47 +0000

… of the universe.

By: GatorALLin

GatorALLin — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 21:18:52 +0000

on CNN police used a Camera to save a boy hostage.

….just saying…

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/05/us/alabama-child-hostage/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

By: z

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 21:14:50 +0000

Planck weapons… the end

By: Camaxtli

Camaxtli — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 18:43:38 +0000

I was not engaging in drone hating. My second sentence mentioned an awesome use. I’m also not against surveillance. I ascribe to David Brin’s Sousveillance ideas. Just like people should be able to record police just as they are able to record. So should citizens be able to control drones. Also, people should have access to their governments recorded records from their surveillance through freedom of information application. It’s always important in a healthy democracy to watch the watchers. That’s how we maintain our freedoms while maintaining the public safety we all want.

By: GatorALLin

GatorALLin — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 17:06:21 +0000

How long before we get a ZIP GUN version of this…?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNPJMk2fgJU

By: GatorALLin

GatorALLin — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 17:05:48 +0000

.so mini versions of this…. MUST SEE VIDEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNPJMk2fgJU

By: GatorALLin

GatorALLin — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 17:04:42 +0000

Yes, but then is your point that we should use these as fast as possible…so then we learn what needs to be improved…so we get the next generation done and in use faster….so we can stay one tiny step ahead of the bad guys?

…there was an interesting talk on ted.com that bad guys are always going to be more passionate about….making money or doing bad stuff that cops for example just paid to catch them…. that in theory bad guys may have the edge ins some ways with using new or advanced technology…. only that they are doing things because they are passionate about it and if you pay someone to be a cop or pay someone to be in the military it just is not the same… (I am sure there are very passionate cops, but not always the rule vs. the exception)…and even though the military has tons of money or power or has the numbers over you… (ted talk was more about financial crimes, or creating viruses that steal money, vs. this topic of spy cameras, but kinda the same idea in a way).

By: GatorALLin

GatorALLin — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 16:09:54 +0000

…I have to agree with you that the idea that big brother is watching every move is already long been in effect with cameras at ever gas station or wal-mart and now at many intersections, etc. You and I might get a few more speeding tickets from a traffic cam …so that is irritating and I guess helps drop our speeds and honestly pays for these expensive systems… I want a 2 way street though and would like more cameras on COPS and Gov’t workers, not just a dash-cam they avoid..I want chest worn cams next. (what if every back room deal from politicians was required to be on camera? what if everyone was their best self 80%of the time vs. 20%) ?.

I do think that police forces (add in CIA, FBI, etc) could use these to save lives (not just their own) by flying drones over fences or looking in windows of known drug houses, etc.. Any known pimping spots could just set these drones up to monitor and shut down bad areas with crime… where mounted cameras just get destroyed or avoided, thus flying or moving cameras have that added advantage. I do believe that people are on their best (ok maybe just better) behavior when they know they are being watched. We already have the age of everyone with both camera and video capabilities on their phone…where now almost every crazy thing finds its way up to youtube or FB already…so your next drunken brawl may be more likely to be online from your friends than the cops. There are more cases now of cops searching FB for online video proof to use against you in court than they ever took video themselves so anyone worried about who is taking all this video, that shift has long since happened and we, the attention seeking self appointed rock starts we think we want to be on social media might be the ones to blame first.

…anyhow… I think this video the skies could be a good thing… .and I hope we find ways to make gov’t workers, cops, other public servants become much more transparent and somehow we get the “best self” side of everyone.

By: Mr.X

Mr.X — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 10:14:26 +0000

And Afghanis would be the good guys in this scenario.

By: Editor

Editor — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 08:00:22 +0000

Yep, the new microwars are here. The only hope: nanoweapons. Then picoweapons, femtoweapons, etc….

By: Editor

Editor — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 07:57:37 +0000

Bring it. Amazing what a pocket laser will do to cameras.

By: Ralph Dratman

Ralph Dratman — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 03:07:10 +0000

Apparently no one here has considered the possibility that people and groups whose activities you do NOT approve of are bound to acquire a nice supply of these eventually. Weapons (and this should be obvious) do not only benefit the “good guys.” And I am not only referring to terrorists. Ordinary criminals are bound to find uses for them too. So will Afghanis, in time.

By: Ralph Dratman

Ralph Dratman — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 02:52:36 +0000

The little helicopter drone soon to be following you will\ have even more nice features.

By: Dennis R.

Dennis R. — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 22:36:27 +0000

Western forces have had a technological advantage in Afghanistan for years and haven’t managed to ride that advantage to overwhelming victory. Surveillance is becoming increasingly common in our home countries however. ARe we terrorists? Threats? Merely persons of interest?

By: Jsbigpic

Jsbigpic — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 20:50:43 +0000

We need to stop all the drone hating and start at least considering the overwhelming good they could do. A relatively low-tech fleet of drones hovering over dangerous parts of cities with high incidents of crime could videotape everything, and that footage could be reviewed (with a warrant) in incidents of violent crimes. Imagine the impact on crime if the police could merely rewind the footage before the crime and see where the perpetrators came from, or where they went after. Not only would this provide invaluable evidence, it would save millions in resources that typically are overly strained in the pursuit of evidence and prosecution. Think of drive-bys, rapes, armed robberies, hit and runs, gang shootings, arson, etc. Especially in the age of no snitching. Undoubtedly there will be civil liberty flack, but I’d trade a little (or a lot – I’m not a criminal and have no concerns about being under surveillance) dose of Big Brother if it saves lives and puts the most violent people in our society out of business. There are terrorists among us, and we should treat them the same way we do everywhere else, only without the hellfire missiles and with open and fair prosecution. I’m afraid this bit of rationale will be lost in the discussion, which is a tragedy.

By: Bri

Bri — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 18:07:16 +0000

A little plastic explosives wouldn’t hurt either. Well then again.

By: MatthewQ

MatthewQ — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:50:19 +0000

Include a syringe with tranquilizer (or even cyanide) and it becomes a proper hornet and not just limited to looking around the corner but neutralizing the threat as well.

By: Camaxtli

Camaxtli — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:17:13 +0000

Coming to a window sill near you. Seriously though, this little guy would be very useful in scientific field work. Much more prefer peaceful applications like that. Though if we’re not yet capable of resolving differences without violence, I guess it’s good that this may at least protect soldiers’ lives.

But if we’re fine with drones of all shapes and sizes flying the length and breadth of places like Afghanistan, how peachy keen will we think it will be when they are here, which they will be. And who gets the right to operate these devices? Just the government? Or we also have that priviledge?
There are city ordinances and movements to stop drones all over the place. So that will mean the governments will be the only ones with that priviledge. I hope we all pay as close attention to those developments as much as we do to the whiz bang coolness of the technology.

The internet largely slipped by the notice of the world’s governments, and was and is a great boon for the power of the people.

I’m afraid the coming matternet will not slip past their control with the same ease.

By: GatorALLin

GatorALLin — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 15:27:42 +0000

Love the idea and expect to see that this could be mounted in on a rail on his gun to the side and deploy easily when needed. I see he is using a tablet that forces you to look down and thus might miss an oncoming threat. They should upgrade to a headset display where you can still see the world around you and then also watch the live video feed with something like google glass. Next up we mount these on biped robots that don’t require human lives in combat situations.

By: WLGJR

WLGJR — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 15:25:46 +0000

Kind of off topic, but since this mentions Afghanistan, I am reminded of a plan to drop cellphones in that country, inspired by the Charles Stross novel Singularity Sky.
Wondering whether they (the US and other troops in A-stan) have done that.