Skip to main content

Trends with Benefits: Snacks via drone, Tazer robots, Caleb’s space colony

Trends with Benefits: Weekly tech news roundup

Selfie sticks are probably not going away soon, but a company called Zero Zero Robotics is prepared to up the ante. The Hover Flying Camera is a small folding drone that can, as the name suggests, hover in place and take pictures for you. The book-like design is actually pretty incredible, and so is the technology powering it. But has our selfie obsession gone too far? Selfie technology seems to be advancing a lot faster than our uses for it. The Dutch plan of using eagles to combat drones may be looking better all the time.

Amazon has been planning on making deliveries with drones for quite a while. However, according to the PGA, the Camel Golf Resort is already implementing the process. Golfers will now be able to order golf items and snacks to be delivered by drones, while out on the course. This sounds like a great idea, but how many bets will be placed on trying to hit one out of the sky with a golf ball?

SpaceX has consistently been in the headlines this year, but its latest plan – to send a spacecraft called the Red Dragon to Mars by 2018 – may be its most ambitious yet. This would beat NASA’s plan by two years! It’s all part of his goal to eventually take humans there and colonize the planet. There are a lot of complications that need to be worked out before that, but it’s fantastic that space travel is once again exciting the general public.

China’s National Defense University (a real thing) is putting itself at the forefront of service robots, with its AnBot. The autonomous security robot, is tasked with both “protecting and servicing humans” and at 5 feet tall and 170 pounds, provides a formidable presence. Oh, did we mention that it also has the ability to tase people? As Edward Snowden tweeted regarding the AnBot, “Surely this will end well.”

Additional ridiculous topics on today’s show include Coke vs. Mr. Pibb, how falconry should make a comeback, and what we would name our own city on Mars. Let us know what you would name yours, in the comments below.

Today’s episode features Dan Gaul, Rick Stella, Caleb Denison and Greg Nibler.

Please subscribe and share Trends with Benefits, visit Digital Trends and send in your questions to podcast@digitaltrends.com. We also broadcast the show live on Facebook and YouTube every Thursday at 2:30pm PST.

Greg Nibler
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Greg has worked as a Host, Producer, and Writer in radio and television since the early 2000s, working for such companies as…
TWB Podcast: SpaceX triumph, Spotify vs. Apple Music, Apple Watch health
trends with benefits spacex tesla spotify apple watch twb full

SpaceX has reinvigorated space exploration: There can be no doubt that putting a cherry red Tesla Roadster into space, as part of the Falcon Heavy X rocket launch on 2/ 5/18, captured the world's attention. It showcased what vision, ability, talent and a whole lot of money, can accomplish. The question now is what will Elon Musk do next? One would imagine that investors are clamoring to pour more money into future projects. This was also the world's greatest ad campaign for Tesla, for which there are some pretty bold plans in their own right. A letter was sent to shareholders stating that they are planning to send an autonomous Tesla car on a coast-to-coast trip in 2018.

Spotify vs. Apple: When it comes to overall users, there is no question that Spotify is the current leader in streaming music services. They have millions more subscribers (approximately 70 million total) than their closest rivals. However, Apple Music is now claiming to have 36 million of their own and according to the Wall Street Journal, is growing at nearly double the rate of Spotify. So, who do you use for streaming music and why?

Read more
Between the Streams: Venomless trailer, Game of Thrones Star Wars, ‘Solo’ time
between the streams

DT’s weekly entertainment show, Between the Streams, is your guide to all of the hottest, most important, and (of course) dumbest new developments in streaming and entertainment, providing a handy recap of the week that was and a preview for what's ahead. Follow us here at 2 p.m. PT every Friday, or add us via RSS, iTunes, or Stitcher at the links below to take BtS on the road!

      

Read more
How to photograph ghosts — get an iPhone (Samsung cameras won’t work)
how to photograph ghosts julie rieger crabman color circled

Forget selfies and sunsets, any ordinary iPhone can be used to take pictures of something far more intriguing: the spirit world.

Julie Rieger is the biggest of Hollywood bigwigs; she’s president, chief data strategist, and head of media at 20th Century Fox, where she’s worked on a few little films like Avatar, Deadpool, The Fault in Our Stars, and more. And in addition to being one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, she’s an avid ghost photographer -- in fact, she wrote the book on it.

Read more