2019年6月26日
Russia's new drone looks like a snowy owl, and it has a deadly purpose
Russia has developed a new combat surveillance drone disguised as a bird of prey, in this case an owl. The drone, a Technopolis Era project resembling a snowy owl choking on a mouthful of electronic equipment, appeared at the defence ministry’s annual military expo.
Weighing only 5 kilograms, it can be carried and launched by one person. The company has also developed a falcon drone. It is said to be able to fly for up to 40 minutes and cover distances up to 20 kilometers, or 12 miles.
“What’s interesting is that Russian designers are thinking creatively about UAV applications,” Samuel Bendett, a research analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses. “In Russia’s part of Eurasia where hunting birds like owls, falcons and eagles are very common, a UAV that looks like a bird can become an invaluable ISR asset,” he added. “It can basically ‘hide’ in plain sight.”
The stated purpose of the design showcased last year was to track tanks and other vehicles and then direct fire to those positions. Drones with biomimetic designs, while strange, are not all that new. A few years ago, a crude drone resembling a bird and believed to be the property of the Somali government crashed in Mogadishu. Robotic birds have been tested in Canada to scare birds away from airports. And China has designed recon drones that fly, move, and look like doves for domestic surveillance operations.
Spotify is spending hundreds of millions to become a major podcasting player
Spotify’s big bet on podcasting could pay off, and handsomely. Spotify’s podcast initiatives over the last few months have led the analysts to elevate their outlook for the music-streaming service’s advertising revenue.
Spotify’s exclusive content agreements such as the company’s deal with former President Barack Obama, and new formats like the “Your Daily Drive” playlist which mixes news podcasts with music, as major enhancements to its podcast offering. Spotify also rolled out a feature to allow advertisers to target people based on which types of podcasts they’re listening to.
Spotify was the ninth-most-downloaded app during the second quarter of 2019. That marked its highest quarterly ranking in more than two years, according to data compiled by AppAnnie. Sequential improvement in app downloads indicates new and returning user growth, a positive trend and supportive of a bullish view that the company’s global addressable market is well in excess of current streaming music subscriber levels.
Podcast advertising revenue increased by 54% last year to $US479 million. In February, Spotify announced its intentions to spend somewhere between $US400 million and $US500 million on acquisitions in the podcast space in 2019. The company purchased Gimlet Media, a podcast creation studio, for about $US230 million, and Anchor, which provides tools create and distribute podcasts, for an undisclosed amount.
"Our view obviously is that while are starting to flock to listen to podcasts, there’s still tremendous growth both in the US and internationally on the demand side,” Daniel Ek, the chief executive officer and chairmen of Spotify said.
Telstra has changed all of its phone plans and they come with free access to 5G – for now
We’ve known for a while now that Telstra planned on revamping its plans by the end of June. It is now moving exclusively to month-to-month plans with no lock in contracts. And they will be available for handset-based plans, as well as when you BYO Phone.
No more leasing plans, no more $199 Unlimited data plan and a base line of 15GB a month instead of 3GB. Telstra was hinting at simplifying its offering, and going from roughly 1,800 plans down to 20 across personal and business certainly has done that.
If you want to avoid getting shaped you can choose to go up to the next data tier — the plans are flexible enough to allow you to change your mind to go up and down tiers once a month. However, if you are on top-tier 150GB per month plan and go over your data limit there is no option to add-on more data, you can only get throttled to the aforementioned 1.5Mbps.
All of these deals comes with free access to 5G during the trial period, which runs until June 30 2020. Thereafter it will be an optional add on for the Small and Medium plans, costing an extra $15 a month. It will remain free for customers on Large and Extra Large plans. You will also need a 5G compatible device for this and it will only work in 5G activated areas.
They certainly haven’t been anywhere near the 1.2Gbps+ speeds that have been promised or achieved in the controlled environment of Telstra’s Sydney office. Coverage has also been hard to find and inconsistent. That being said, let’s hope that coverage will improve dramatically over the next year so the trial period will be worth it.
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