Dutch students open world's first pop-up drone cafe

Yahoo – AFP, April 23, 2016

A drone brings drinks to customers in the world's first drone cafe in Eindhoven

Would you like a drone with your cocktail? The world's first cafe using the tiny domestic unmanned aircraft as servers has opened in a Dutch university.

The pop-up drone cafe will be serving up all weekend as part of celebrations for the "Dream and Dare" festival marking the 60th anniversary of the Eindhoven University of Technology.

The 20 students behind the project, who spent nine months developing and building the autonomous drone, aim to show how such small inside craft could become an essential part of modern daily life.

"It has potential as a useful tool for human kind. We see it as the next mobile phone. You choose and you programme it like you want," student and project leader Tessie Hartjes told AFP.

The drone, nicknamed Blue Jay, which resembles a small white flying saucer with a luminescent strip for eyes, flies to a table and hovers as it takes a client's order, who points to the list to signal what they would like.

"The blue eyes of the first drone load" up by scanning the list to register the order, said Hartjes.

"Once it's fully loaded, then the order is ready. And another one comes with the order in a cup in the grip."

The cafe is offering four different alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails, which are either bright blue or green -- the same colour as the drone's "eyes."

The drinks are picked up and carried by a set of pinchers underneath the drone, in a bid to show that these aerial machines could be used to carry out delicate missions such as delivering medicines or even helping to track down burglars.

Each drone has cost about 2,000 euros to build, in a project funded by the university which the students say aims "to give a glimpse of the future".

Thanks to sensors and a long battery life they can fly inside buildings and navigate crowded interiors, unlike other drones, which rely on a GPS system.

"The Blue Jay is an intelligent bird that lives in complex, social environments," the students say in a video presenting their work.

They believe the drone's applications could be endless: as extinguishers to put out fires, alarm systems to warn of intruders or mini-servants which would respond to commands such as "fetch me an apple."

"We believe that one day, domestic drones will be a part of society. One day, a drone could be a friend," says one of the students in the video presentation.

Related Article:

Eindhoven students open ‘world’s first’ drone cafe

Dutch prison inmates to get tablets rather than tv and books: AD

DutchNews, April 19, 2016

The Dutch prison service is planning to replace televisions and prison libraries with tablet computers, the AD reports on Tuesday. 

The paper says the service aims to provide thousands of prisoners with a tablet so they can watch television, follow courses and buy essentials from their own cells. 

The move is part of efforts to get prisoners to take more responsibility for themselves, a justice ministry spokesman told the AD. 

Visits

‘It is becoming increasingly important to be able to take care of yourself,’ the spokesman said. ‘We want to impress that on prisoners as well, so they can organise their own visits and buy their own supplies.’ 

Prisoners will not have free access to the internet and will only be able to use approved websites, he said. 

Union spokesman Frans Corbo told the AD the move is simply about saving money. ‘Tablets are cheaper than staff, so you can do the sums. Closing the libraries and other provisions reduces the contact between staff and inmates and that is not good for safety,’ he said. 

The cost and start date of the project has not yet been decided, broadcaster Nos says.

‘The order is ready and will be sent out soon. We don’t yet know what brand of tablet is being ordered,’ Zutphen prison director Ruut Bernsen told the AD.

Related Article:

Five prisons to close as falling crime rate leaves cells empty

Canada PM lights up Internet explaining quantum computing

Yahoo – AFP, April 17, 2016

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave a detailed answer after a journalist
jokingly asked him to explain quantum computing (AFP Photo/Drew Angerer)

Ottawa (AFP) - He has impressed world leaders, has a growing army of fans -- many female -- and is even credited with driving up tourism to Canada.

But photogenic Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has now displayed another gift even few of his most ardent supporters knew he had: a more than passable knowledge of quantum computing.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 

takes part in a Vaisakhi celebration on

 Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, 

April 11, 2016. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

The Internet was abuzz with gushing praise for the 44-year-old Trudeau after a journalist jokingly asked him Friday to explain quantum computing.

But instead of looking puzzled and joining in with the joke, Trudeau set about giving a detailed answer that had experts at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario nodding approvingly and brought the packed audience to its feet.

"Don't interrupt me," Trudeau said mischievously, a grin forming on his face, before launching seamlessly into his explanation, punctuated by giggles from the admiring audience and culminating in cheers and applause.

"Don't get me going on this or we'll be here all day, trust me," the Liberal leader concluded, to more laughs.

Twitter lathered itself into a froth as footage of Trudeau's answer went viral.

"I love Justin Trudeau. I wanna be Canadian," one user tweeted, while another wrote: "Hope I'm not falling into a mania... but Trudeau explaining quantum computing is pretty great."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talks with President Barack Obama

 during the afternoon plenary session of the Nuclear Security Summit, Friday, 

April 1, 2016, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Amazon makes foray into fashion world

Yahoo – AFP, Thomas Urbain, April 2, 2016

Amazon has been making moves over the past few months to position itself
as a force in the ready-to-wear fashion world (AFP Photo/Adrian Dennis)

New York (AFP) - Amazon has been making moves over the past few months to position itself as a force in the ready-to-wear fashion world.

The Seattle-based online retail titan has already revolutionized how consumers shop and has been selling clothes for more than a decade.

In 2006, it bought the site Shopbop and snapped up online footwear go-to Zappos three years later.

But its steps in recent months -- some overt and others more under-the-radar -- signal that Amazon is speeding up its foray into fashion.

For one, Amazon launched a daily, free half-hour online show on fashion in early March, its first-ever live-streaming program.

It also became the main partner of the fledgling New York Men's Fashion Week, which held its second season of shows in January.

And the giant founded by US entrepreneur Jeff Bezos has also begun airing "The Fashion Fund," a reality show during which young designers face off against each other in a competition sponsored by the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) that organizes New York Fashion Week.

As for its more muted moves -- these are visible on Amazon.com where new fashion labels have popped up that, it turns out, have been trademarked by the tech giant.

The labels Lark & Ro, North Eleven and Franklin Tailored have been registered by Amazon over the past few months, according to data accessed by AFP on the website of the European Union Intellectual Property Office.

After focusing on clothes designed, made and sold by others, Amazon -- whose revenue in 2015 passed the $100 billion mark -- is developing its own clothing lines.

When contacted by AFP on the topic, Amazon declined to comment.

"I'm happy to reach out once we are ready to share news and overall strategy regarding our business," said a spokeswoman for Amazon Fashion.

"Amazon has made apparel a priority," analysts with KeyBanc Capital Markets wrote in a February research note after attending the MAGIC apparel trade show in Las Vegas.

Models present creations by Indian fashion designers during the Amazon India

 Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2016 finale in New Delhi on March 20, 2016 (AFP

Photo/Chandan Khanna)

'Plenty of opportunity'

"Amazon is being viewed as a strategic opportunity and partner" in the vendor community they wrote, with some believing that "it can be a top three customer for them in the medium-term."

Customers appear to like what's in the works.

"There's... the ability to have the world at your fingertips in one place," said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at the NPD Group.

"Brand sites or traditional retail sites have limited offerings. Whereas when you look at Amazon, the offer of products is mind boggling," he added.

"The ability to reach across so many brands, so many styles, so many sizes, so many options, it gives a feeling of much greater opportunity to secure the product that you want."

Amazon has the potential to make a significant mark on the fashion world, according to Cohen.

"There's plenty of opportunity to better what has been done by the fashion industry, from a basic, and also midlevel and even from a designer perspective," he said.

Analysts at the Cowen Group said in July that they expected Amazon to become the leading US apparel retailer by 2017, ahead of Wal-Mart and Macy's.

They forecast $27.7 billion in revenue next year and $52 billion in 2020 -- and that in the United States alone.

On a more international front, chains such as H&M and Zara also have reason to be concerned.

If the inauguration late last year in Seattle of a brick-and-mortar bookstore is anything to go by, Amazon one day could decide to open ready-to-wear clothing stores.