Seeing Lady Gaga perform with 300 Intel Drones at this week’s Super Bowl was the highlight of the evening for this editor, who doesn’t share the national passion for watching men in Spandex crunch helmets together. The Lady does have a way of attracting attention, and this year, Intel helped contribute to the half-time excitement. The literally over-the-top show didn’t hurt Lady Gaga’s revenues, as noted in this FiveThirtyEight.com report. 960 percent Lady Gaga’s digital song sales are up about 960 percent compared to the day before the Super Bowl, according to Nielsen Music. Seems like her Super Bowl halftime show was a hit. [USA Today] Considering that the company began last May by schmoozing the FAA into permitting 100 drones to fly in a remote desert location – a first mass flight in the United States with such permissions – they have made remarkable speed in staging larger and larger demonstrations in more well-populated areas. 300 drones larked about …
Lugosi Enterprises Pioneers Late-Night Drone Deliveries
Even while Jeff Bezos at Amazon and competitors like UPS and FedEx strive to deliver packages to your front door, a Transylvanian experiment in extreme biomicry promises to make delivery in the dark of night the new standard. While other drone makers use fixed- or rotary-wing configurations, Lugosi Enterprises relies on a radical, human-powered ornithopter with the ability to change shape and size depending on the stage of the mission in which it is engaged. This proprietary technology is shrouded in secrecy, but enables the wingsuit wearer to shrink to an extraordinarily small size, at which point, according to Lugosi spokesperson Dwight Frye, the operator can fly an undisclosed distance in total silence, except for an occasional annoying high-pitched piping noise. For reasons best known to the Lugosi operation, deliveries will take place only at night, and will not be curtailed by high winds, thunder, or multiple lightning strikes. Navigation will depend on bat-like echolocation, in which sounds emitted by the flyer help …