Pilot
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Uber's Jump will take on Lime's e-bikes in London
Londoners have seen multiple bikeshare companies come and go -- including ofo, oBike and Urbo. When Lime introduced its e-bikes in December, it seemed like the tide could be changing. Now, Uber's Jump will give it a go. As part of a pilot program, Uber dropped 350 of its bright red, dockless electric-assisted bikes in Islington today.
Daimler and Bosch pick San Jose for autonomous taxi trial
Mercedes' parent company Daimler and automotive supplier Bosch announced back in 2017 their plans to get autonomous vehicles on the road "by the beginning of the next decade." Now, the partnership is getting ready to roll out testing, and has earmarked San Jose for a pilot trial in the second half of 2019.
Amazon stops asking viewers to vote on Prime Video pilots
Amazon has been relatively unique among streaming giants in not only requesting pilots, but putting them up for a vote by the viewers. Unfortunately, you'll have to kiss that democratic process goodbye. The company's Jennifer Salke has announced that Prime Video pilot voting has been "set aside for now." Instead, it'll use both its own internal testing and "some user data" to make the call on whether a show goes forward. It's not that Amazon doesn't trust your feedback -- rather, it's not that convinced the pilots themselves are necessary.
Amazon's 'Pilot Season' returns November 10th
It's that time of year again: Amazon is premiering its fall batch of series pilots on November 10th. And this season, the focus is definitely on the star power involved. The highlight is likely Sea Oak, the undead comedy starring Glenn Close -- she plays an aunt who comes back as a zombie out of "sheer force of dissatisfaction" with the rest of her family. It touts author George Saunders as its creator and Atlanta's Hiro Murai as director, so it could be in good hands.
Google gives up on 'Hands Free' wireless mobile payments
Google has ended its "Hands Free" payment scheme, which let you live the retail dream of paying wirelessly with no need to pull out a card or phone. The program, which ran only in San Francisco's South Bay area, first detects if you're in a participating store using your smartphone's location services. If you say you're "paying with Google," it then completes the transaction over Bluetooth LE or WiFi, with the cashier verifying the purchase using your photo ID.
Amazon will stream show pilots on Twitch for 24 hours
Amazon is no stranger to showing you series pilots to gauge your interest, but it's trying a different strategy this year. The internet retailer will stream its version of The Tick and Jean-Claude Van Johnson on Twitch for 24 hours on August 31st, roughly two weeks after their Amazon premiere on August 19th. That may sound like an odd move when Amazon-owned Twitch is still primarily known for gaming, but it makes sense considering the service's broadening horizons. There are plenty of people watching content on Twitch besides games, and it could attract viewers who otherwise wouldn't bother to visit Amazon to watch.
The ESA wants to put people on the moon by the 2020s
The European Space Agency is going back to the moon. It announced on Friday that it's working with international partners to land a series of manned missions on the moon by the end of the next decade. But first, they're sending in robots to pave the way.
Facebook is testing a Craiglist-style Local Markets feature
The next time you clean out your house, you might end up selling your old stuff on Facebook instead of Craigslist. According to a report from Techcrunch, Facebook recently did a small test of a "Local Market" feature in its iOS app. Instead of the "messenger" button in the app's bottom navigation bar, a "market" button appeared that took users to a categorized location for buying and selling items. The categories are familiar to anyone who's spent time on Craigslist: you can browse items across cars, furniture, antiques, electronics, clothing, books, and many more. Judging by some posts seen on Twitter, it looks like Facebook has been testing the feature for a a few weeks now.
Amazon Studios has two new pilots for you to judge
While Amazon has a track record to go by for its upcoming car show, it's still crowdsourcing impressions for its new dramas. Today the service posted pilot episodes for two new series that it might pick up for streaming, and you can check them out for free. First up is the Brian Cranston-produced Sneaky Pete (not Skinny Pete, this is not a Breaking Bad spinoff), starring Giovanni Ribisi as an ex-con who has assumed the identity of his former cellmate. Meanwhile, Casanova is directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet (Amelie) and stars Diego Luna (Y Tu Mama Tambien) telling the "true" story of the legendary playboy. Pilots for both are live for viewers in the US, UK and Germany, so watch and give your opinion -- or just check out the newest clip for Amazon's The Man in the High Castle, which debuts November 20th.
Target launches Bluetooth beacon pilot program in 50 stores
Bluetooth beacons are already helping London's visually-impaired subway riders navigate the Tubes, now they're going to help shoppers find great deals at their local Target stores. The retailer recently announced that it is implementing a pilot beacon program in 50 of its stores. These beacons will send push notifications to shoppers phones whenever they browse within range of the device, similar to the Tips system that Facebook is working on.
American Airlines flights delayed because of iPad app glitch
A couple of years ago, American Airlines swapped out its pilots' "flight bag" for iPads loaded with the terminal charts and other reference materials they're required to carry. Losing the 35 lbs of materials for a tablet (some 8,000 of them) was a good tradeoff, but tonight an apparent glitch is grounding some of the airline's flights. American Airlines confirmed the issue in a statement to Engadget, saying "Some flights are experiencing an issue with a software application on pilot iPads", and that some of the flights had to return to the gate for a WiFi connection to fix the issue. According to the Dallas Morning News several dozen flights are affected, although it's not clear what caused the glitch.
Amazon is working on seven new pilot shows for next year
With the new year just around the corner, Amazon wants to get its customers excited by revealing fresh content for yet another Pilot Season. Today, the online retailer announced that it has seven shows due to debut in 2015, which will be made available to Instant Video subscribers in the US, UK and Germany "early" next year. The lineup is a collection of four 60-minute shows (Cocked, Mad Dogs, The Man in the High Castle and Point of Honor), plus three shorter, half-hour-long productions (Down Dog, Salem Rogers and The New Yorker Presents). There's something for everyone, it seems, ranging from categories such as drama, comedy and documentary. If you're interested, you can learn more about each one right here.
Watch a tiny robot fly an aircraft nearly as well as a real pilot
Autonomous aircraft are likely to be the future of air travel, but we're not quite there yet; even with autopilot systems in place, most airplanes are designed with human pilots in mind. South Korean researchers may have a clever robotic stopgap, however. Their tiny PIBOT automaton uses a mixture of flight data and visuals to fly using real controls. It still needs intervention shortly before touchdown, but it can otherwise take to the skies as well as many organic air crews -- it may even be a bit better in a few areas, since it uses its camera to align neatly with the runway on takeoff and landing.
New fighter pilot helmet delivers night vision without goggles
Fighter pilots have access to helmets with amazing abilities. However, they still have to strap on heavy night vision goggles to fly in the dark -- an all too literal pain in the neck. Much to aircrews' relief, BAE Systems wants to make that clunky headgear a distant memory. Its brand new Striker II helmet includes a night vision camera that projects its footage on to the visor's high-resolution display, giving the pilot a good look at the outside world without the need for extra equipment. The tech should be far more comfortable during lengthy missions, especially in sharp turns where G-forces make any added weight feel that much worse.
Skylens heads-up display helps pilots 'see' through the fog
Thanks to instrumentation, flying blind in bad weather isn't the problem it used to be, but pilots still suffer the unfortunate effects of spatial disorientation. Not being able to see where you're going causes people to lose their sense of balance and direction, which can sometimes lead to fatal errors -- which is why Elbit Systems has developed the Skylens heads-up display. Looking like a fairly hefty pair of ski goggles, Skylens overlays terrain, runway and horizon data onto the wearer's field of vision, enabling them to work out which way is up in poor-visibility conditions. Any pilots looking to get hold of the gear, however, will have to wait a while, as the hardware is currently being tested for airworthiness, but should be available at some point in 2016.
DARPA envisions a smarter, safer autopilot
Autonomous aircraft serve their purpose, but there's no question that pilotless passenger flights are a long way off, if they ever become a reality. Still, there's obviously room for improvement when it comes to on-board systems that assist pilots in their duties. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is in the process of creating an advanced autopilot system called ALIAS (yes, another acronym). The Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (there you go) would control military aircraft in all stages of flight, from takeoff to landing -- even during a system failure. Pilots would interact with the system using a touchscreen and voice control, supervising a flight instead of commanding it. Of course, we'll see this technology make its way to military planes long before it's adopted by airlines, but ALIAS could play a key role in keeping us all safe at 30,000 feet.
'X-Files' creator's Amazon pilot gets the green light, the truth is out there and streaming in early 2014
How's this for a pitch? "[T]his is a show that explores human frailty, possibility, terror and the triumph of the human spirit." Chris Carter likes to keep the things he's working on mysterious. The X-Files creator is a superstitious guy, apparently. Amazon's description of the forthcoming one-hour pilot is a bit more more helpful than Carter's -- but only a bit. "The After follows eight strangers who are thrown together by mysterious forces and must help each other survive in a violent world that defies explanation." Sure it defies explanation, but it couldn't hurt to try, right? The pilot features Sharon Lawrence and Jamie Kennedy and will hit Amazon Prime Instant Video and Lovefilm early next year, along with Bosch, a police drama written by The Wire's Eric Overmyer. Like Amazon's other pilot offerings, the site will let users vote on whether they'll be turned into full series.
Garmin D2 delivers wrist-friendly GPS for pilots
Garmin has almost everyone covered in the watch category: runners, hikers, swimmers, even golfers have their own wrist-worn devices from the consumer GPS pioneer. Now pilots can be added to the growling list of people with their own specialty Garmin wearable. The D2 Pilot Watch includes all the basic, but essential, functions of those old-school aviator watches, like those from Breitling, along with a bevy of advanced features. For one, you can load a flight plan on it and monitor your position on a moving map displayed on its tiny monochrome screen. There's also a dedicated NRST button that uses the built-in GPS to guide you the nearest airport in the case of an emergency. It can also track ground speed, time to destination, altitude and there's a compass display with a horizontal situation indicator (HSI). And, of course, it plays nice with Garmin's stable of other products, like its Pilot App and VIRB action cam. The press release claims the D2 is expected to go on sale in November for $449, though, the Garmin online store currently has it listed for $470. Regardless, we don't anticipate this popping up on the shelves of your local Best Buy.
Within two years, every Delta pilot will be using a Surface 2
In an unexpected turn, Delta has informed employees that it will be issuing a Surface 2 running Windows 8.1 RT to every pilot over the next two years. The airline ran an Electronic Flight Bag pilot program with iPads back in 2011, but for reasons unknown, that popular slate has since been scrapped. According to WindowsITPro, Delta had since planned to move forward with Nokia's rumored tablet, but has opted for the Surface 2 instead. The decision follows a move to equip flight attendants with Lumia 820 handsets, which will be used for processing payments and tracking passenger information. Considering the importance of a reliable cockpit device, however, this Surface 2 news is arguably far more significant.
iPad now being used in every American Airlines cockpit
American Airlines has announced the deployment of more than 8,000 iPads to the cockpits of its fleet as part of a new electronic flight bag for pilots. The roll out has lead to American discontinuing paper revisions to its terminal charts, saving money, paper and mess in the future. To put a number on how much effect the switch will have, the electronic flight bag is replacing more than 35 pounds of paper-based reference materials that pilots carry in their carry-on kitbag. By removing that extra weight from their flights American will save a minimum of 400,000 gallons of fuel and $1.2 million dollars annually, based on current fuel prices. In addition, pilots will save more time thanks to the elimination of the hours it could take each month to update their paper manuals. Updating the iPad software takes minutes. "Our focus on technological improvement throughout our operation has never been stronger as we continue to build the new American," said Patrick O'Keeffe, American's Vice President – Airline Operations Technology. "As the first major commercial airline to successfully complete the Electronic Flight Bag transition across its fleet, we are proud to count this among our other successful programs that provide the tools our people need to perform their duties safely and efficiently." Here's a video look at the system that will be in place from now on in American Airlines flights. Correction: This story originally reported the company would save $12 million annually due to the change over. We were missing a period, and the actual amount is $1.2 million annually.
