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When you register a drone with the FAA, you'll get a government-issued ID number you can put as a note inside the battery compartment or any other internal part of the machine. In the future, though, you may have to make sure that number is perfectly visible -- sort of a like small license plate for your UAV. Bloomberg has discovered a proposed rule filed earlier this month that would "require small unmanned aircraft owners to display the unique identifier assigned by the FAA upon completion of the registration process on an external surface of the aircraft." If it becomes an official rule, you'd no longer be allowed to keep that number hidden. As Bloomberg noted, visible registration numbers would allow regulators to keep a closer eye on personal drones. Authorities have long been trying to gain greater control over the flying machines, since they...

Fujifilm has announced the X-T100, the first model in a new line in the company's excellent but increasingly overwrought X series of mirrorless cameras. This one is a relatively low-priced camera that blends Fujifilm's aesthetic with more conventional, mainstream design. The form factor is generally SLR-like, and the rear controls are nearly identical to the X-T20 , often considered the best X-series entry point. There's pretty much no grip, though, while the electronic viewfinder "dome" tilts back to reveal a pop-up flash, and there's a horizontally tilting touchscreen. The X-T100 also eschews Fujifilm's dedicated shutter speed and exposure compensation dials for traditional PASM controls, like the entry-level X-A5 ; there are two... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts https://ift.tt/2GJgeXR ...

The Gum Nebula Expanse Named for a cosmic cloud hunter, Australian astronomer Colin Stanley Gum (1924-1960), The Gum Nebula is so large and close it is actually hard to see. In fact , we are only about 450 light-years from the front edge and 1,500 light-years from the back edge of this interstellar expanse of glowing hydrogen gas. Covered in this 40+ degree-wide monochrome mosaic of Hydrogen-alpha images, the faint emission region stands out against the background of Milky Way stars. The complex nebula is thought to be a supernova remnant over a million years old, sprawling across the Shi p's southern constellations Vela and Puppis. This spectacular wide field view also explores many objects embedded in The Gum Nebula, including the younger Vela supernova remnant . May 24, 2018 via NASA https://ift.tt/2J8zOBM ...

Remember Google Trends ? The site that keeps you up to date on what the world has been searching for just got a makeover. According to the team , this redesign puts "more editorial data-based stories up front," along with a section featuring data stories picked out by a news team . You can easily check out the Year in Search dating back to 2001, while an intensity map can show where searches were popular by country or individual state. The easy-to-create topics and infographics are supposed to help news organizations sift through the available data, so don't be surprised if you see more stories based on trends. Source: Google Trends via Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2IGwMRX If New feed item from http://www.engadget.c...

Ever wish you could whistle a tune and have a computer build a whole song out of that idea? It might just happen. Facebook AI Research has developed an AI that can convert music in one style or genre into virtually any other. Instead of simply trying to repeat notes or style-specific traits, the approach uses unsupervised training to teach a neural network how to create similar noises all on its own. Facebook's system even prevents the AI from simply memorizing the audio signal by purposefully disto rting the input. The results are uncannily good, as you can hear below, although they clearly depend on the music involved. A Metallica riff sounds odd as a classical piece ( S&M notwithstanding), but you could easily convert a Mozart symphony into one of JS Bach's harpsichord-heavy performances. And yes, whistling works -- the scientists produced a dec...

What's more powerful than Qualcommn's midrange Snapdragon 660 processor , but not quite as powerful as the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 845 chip found in flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S9? The answer is apparently Qualcomm's newest mobile processor, the Snapdragon 710, and the first chip in the company's better-than-midrange Snapdragon 700 series that it announced earlier this year. Qualcomm is holding to the same promises with the 710 that it first touted when it announced the line back in February. That includes twice the AI performance compared to the Snapdragon 660, which Qualcomm says should offer improvements in a wide range of applications from voice-based user interfaces to photography and biometrics. Other parts, like the X15... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts https://ift.tt/2koO7Vb ...

Expensive flagship phones won't be the only way for you to play with advanced features like AR Emoji , Animoji and Face ID much longer. Qualcomm is making it easier for companies to create mid-range smartphones that pack those functions by launching a new mobile processor. The Snapdragon 710 will come with a multi-core AI Engine and support neural network processing, as well as image signal processors and graphics units that are typically found in higher-end chipsets. The 710 is the first of the 700-series, which was announced at MWC this year , and will sit above options like the 600- and 400-ranges but below top-tier chips like the Snapdragon 845 . The Snapdragon 710 is a 10nm chipset that features a multi-core AR engine for on-device neural networking processing, as well as a Spectra 250 image signal processor that enables things like multi-frame noise red...

Apple's once-ambitious self-driving car project has narrowed even further. The New York Times now reports that the company's negotiations with German automakers, including BMW and Mercedes, to develop an all-electric self-driving car have fallen through, after both companies refused to let Apple have control over the design of the vehicle and the data it produces. Now, Apple is partnering with Volkswagen to turn existing T6 Transporter vans into self-driving shuttles for Apple employees, the report says. We've known since last year that Apple's car division, codenamed Project Titan and once aimed at making both the hardware and software for a new autonomous vehicle , had shifted gears to focus in the near-term on a shuttle service known... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts https://ift.tt/2s3tDoR ...

Apple's Project Titan efforts to develop self-driving car technology apparently have found a partner in Volkswagen, according to a report by the New York Times . While the paper said the tech company has pursued deals with BMW and Mercedes, it will apparently turn VW T6 Transporter vans into self-driving shuttles for employees moving be tween its Silicon Valley offices. We've seen some test SUVs out and about before, but Apple has had bigger plans for the project and a reported 2019 target date , so getting more vehicles on the road will be important. Now the Times says the project is behind schedule, and there's no mention of angles like electric propulsion or spherical tires . As for the competition, Waymo has continued to expand with new partners and plans to roll out an autonomous service in the near future , while Uber has suspended its efforts in Ariz...

Popular read-it-later app Instapaper informed all European users today that its service would be temporarily unavailable starting Thursday, May 24th while it continues to make changes to ensure it's complaint with the General Data Protection Regulation , or GDPR. The privacy rule, which sets new restrictions on how companies operating in the EU manage and share personal data, goes into effect on Friday, May 25th. News of the shutdown was reported first by writer and technologist Owen Williams . Here's Instapaper's message in full: Starting tomorrow May 24, 2018, access to the Instapaper service will be temporarily unavailable for residents in Europe as we continue to make changes in light of the General Data Protection Regulation... Continue reading… via The Verge - Tech Posts https://ift.tt/2IYAIAS ...