Amazing 'Hexacopter' Lets Photography Go Airborne

Image Source: engadget

Your dreams of creating amazing aerial photography are about to become a reality.

Thanks to one gadget-loving couple, your DSLR may be taking flight sometime soon. Meet the eye3 hexacopter, a six-armed carbon-fiber UAV that was created to take your camera airborne. It uses Google Maps and open-source code to navigate, and it's modular for simple repairs after unintentional crash-landings. 

The eye3 features three CPUs and a 350-watt motor on each arm. Surprisingly, it can carry a payload of 5 to 10 pounds, plenty of power for your DSLR to take to the air.

Check out some sample shots on engadget's video, here.

Do you Google your blind date? Maybe you should...

Last week, NBC Bay Area covered a new wave of online fraud that's reaching you through your online dating profile. Vicky Nguyen reported that scammers are hijacking innocent people's photos, setting up online profiles and using them to take advantage of daters. How do you ensure your face, or those of family, friends and dates, isn't hijacked?

Our own Steve Russell (and founder of Prism Skylabs), an expert in computer vision and search, joined Vicky to show viewers how to serach and scan public images in order to detect fraudulent online profiles, if they exist. See video below for more details. Now, go ahead and stalk yourself on Google!

View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.

Mercedes Creates Gesture-controlled Vehicle With Augmented Reality Windshield

Mercedes, the German luxury auto manufacturer, had an interesting submission at CES 2012: its Dynamic & Intuitive Control Experience (DICE). The Mercedes DICE concept is a fully customizable dashboard with gesture-based controls. It enables the driver to scroll through, select and control a variety of vehicle functions with basic hand motions.

Interestingly, the flat-panel dashboard also uses augmented reality to digitally display real-time information on the windshield. With a wave of a hand, users can skip music tracks, message friends, and even make a reservation at a local restaurant.

Damon Lavrinc from Auto Blog tested DICE in the video above. He said it's an interesting but buggy system. One big problem: The system's proximity sensors can’t yet distinguish between a gesture and a non-gesture -- for example, if the driver were telling a story and using his hands. No worry; the company will have plenty of time to de-bug DICE. After all, a Mercedes executive said we won’t be seeing gesture-based dashboard in mass-produced Mercedes vehicles for another 20 years.

Thief Gets Smart in Awesome 'Viral' LG Ad

Wait for it: You won't believe what this thief stole.

Japan Plans Futuristic, Robotic Farm on Tsunami Site

According to the Nikkei business daily, Japan is planning a futuristic farm on the lands that were devastated by the tsunami. Robots, such as unmanned tractors, will work in the fields and the carbon dioxide the robots generate will be captured and pumped back to the crops to enhance their growth.

The estimated $52 million experimental project covering 24,000 hectares will begin on-site research later this year.

Industry leaders, such as Fujitsu, Hitachi, Sharp and NEC , are expected to partner in the project.