Month: March 2016

The SkyWall 100, attached to a man dressed as an anti-drone commando

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A British company has just unveiled a badass-looking bazooka that catches drones with a net and then parachutes them softly to the ground.

Drones have the wonderful propensity to turn up almost anywhere. From sport stadiums to the lawn of the White House, unmanned quadcopters have managed to sneak into locations that are usually off-limits, practically unhindered.

This is great for drone enthusiasts, obviously, but law enforcement agencies are worried these devices could be used in criminal or terrorists acts (i.e. drug-delivering or explosive-rigged drones), or cause crashes by flying too high or too close to larger aircraft.

(credit: Jorge Quinteros)

Smart security cameras are one of the easiest ways to start transforming your normal home into a connected home. Everyone knows about Alphabet's Nest cam, but there are plenty of other cameras to consider from companies including Samsung, D-Link, and Canary. However, you don't have to drop $200 on a bulbous eye-looking camera if you don't want to—there are apps for that. Numerous Android and iOS apps claim to use your old smartphone's cameras to replicate the features of these dedicated cams, letting you check in from your current smartphone whenever you want.

These security apps have nearly the same features as regular smart cameras but are free to download and require no extra hardware. Even older phones are powerful enough to be repurposed. That doesn't mean the apps are quite as good as purpose-built security cameras, though. We looked into the differences between home security cameras and their smartphone equivalents (specifically the apps Manything and Alfred) to see if one method of monitoring your home is better than the other.

Features: Extra hardware or bare-bones software?

Stand-alone security cameras and monitoring apps share a number of common features, and one of the biggest and most important is live streaming. Any smart camera will give you the ability to watch a live stream of your home over Wi-Fi or data either from a Web application, a companion mobile app, or both. They'll also have a recording feature, and some are more customizable than others. Many stand-alone cameras like the Ezviz Mini will let you schedule a time during the day to record video footage. Others will just record whenever they sense motion (and in some cases, sound) in the room or in designated activity zones.

If you update the Yik Yak app as of this week, you're greeted with this demand now. Does that fix anything? Well...

Since its launch in 2013, the app Yik Yak has racked up plenty of users—but it has also earned a pretty nasty reputation. The message board app combines anonymous chatter with GPS functionality, and the unidentified people reading and posting on a given "board" are in the same real-world area, which has fueled years of quick-shot acrimony—and worse.

Imagine implementing 4chan-like functionality for graffiti on a bathroom wall. The app, which has been mostly marketed at college campuses, has been at the center of more than a few reported cases of severe harassment and even threats of violence. Thanks to that reputation, mainstream users largely dismiss Yik Yak as either a cesspool of ickiness or just a thing for college kids.

But Yik Yak's newest functionality announcement could change all that. Tuesday saw the company roll out "handles," or usernames, and anyone who upgrades the app from here on out will be encouraged to pick a name and attach it to posts they make using the service. Pure anonymity has given way to pseudonymity. "Since you can come to recognize the other personalities that make your community unique and awesome, with handles your herd will feel closer than ever," Yik Yak co-founder Tyler Droll said in the announcement.