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Drones are delivering tea in China

Hey, DHL: you're not the only one who can bring drone-based delivery to honest-to-goodness customers. Alibaba's online marketplace, Taobao, is running a real-world test that lets 450 people in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai order ginger tea and receive it from a UAV in less than an hour. The service will only be available from February 4th through February 6th, but it'll represent one of the first practical instances of delivery-by-drone in major urban areas. Sadly, you probably won't see something like this happen in the US for a while -- companies like Amazon are threatening to take their drone tests abroad because of government restrictions.