Drone Crashes On White House Lawn

Via ABC News:

Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary issued the following statement Monday morning: "On 1/26/15, at approximately 3:08 a.m., a Secret Service Uniformed Division officer posted on the South Grounds of the White House complex heard and observed a 'quad copter' device, approximately two feet in diameter, flying at a very low altitude and ultimately crashing on the southeast side of the complex. There was an immediate alert and lockdown of the complex until the device was examined and cleared. An investigation is underway to determine the origin of this commercially available device, motive, and to identify suspects. As additional information becomes available we will update our statement."

A security expert on CNN this morning noted that drones present a unique challenge: "How do you shoot them down? This is downtown DC, where do the bullets go?"

UPDATE: From the New York Times:

The small drone that crashed into a tree on the South Lawn of the White House early Monday morning was operated by a government employee who has told the Secret Service that he did not mean to fly it over the White House fence and near the president’s residence, according to law enforcement officials. The employee — who does not work for the White House — has told the Secret Service that he was flying the drone for recreational purposes at about 3 a.m. in the area around 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue when he lost control of it. So far, the Secret Service said it believed the man’s account. The small, commercial quad copter drone crashed on the southeast grounds, forcing a brief lockdown of the White House complex, the Secret Service said. Officials said in a statement that a Secret Service officer posted on the south grounds of the White House “heard and observed” the device, which was about two feet in diameter, at about 3:08 a.m.

New York City By Drone

Via the New York Daily News:

Bronx-based photographer Victor Chu spent the last six months on an ambitious project: documenting landmarks in all five boroughs of New York City with a camera and aerial drone. His recently completed short video, made from 10 hours of tape shot over the past six months, is Chu's tribute to the city where he's lived most of his life. "There's been a couple of videos about New York City shot with a drone, but they always cover Manhattan. They never cover the Bronx and Staten Island and the other boroughs,” said Chu, 29. "They are neglecting the other wonderful parts about New York City." Chu — an editorial, event and portrait photographer based in Morris Park — began the project as a demo reel for his website, but he’s now entering the video in contests and film festivals.

4000 Orthodox Rabbis By Drone

Via Gothamist:

Thousands of Orthodox Jewish rabbis gathered in Brooklyn this weekend for the 31st International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries. According to a press release, over 4,200 rabbis from over 80 countries all convened in Crown Heights for an annual event aimed at reviving Jewish awareness and practice around the world. It all culminated with the Rabbis coming together outside the Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters on Eastern Parkway for an epic group shot—which included videos of the scene taken by drone.

The Castro By Drone

No audio.

Burning Man 2014 By Drone

Walking Dogs With Drones

But what happens when the dog sees a squirrel?

Facebook Might Buy Drone Company

The New York Times reports:

With all his talk of better data compression and more efficient phone chips, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, has had a bit of trouble getting people excited about Internet.org, his ambitious plan to get everyone in the world onto the Internet. Not anymore. The web was abuzz on Tuesday after a report in TechCrunch that Facebook was in negotiations to buy a manufacturer of drones, Titan Aerospace, for about $60 million. If a deal is completed, it will give Mr. Zuckerberg an intriguing new technology to further the cause of Internet.org. Titan’s drones, which resemble solar-powered airplanes, are designed to fly as high as 65,000 feet and stay aloft for as long as five years — essentially functioning like cheap satellites. They could blanket large areas with wireless Internet signals, although the signals would be slower and unable to handle as much data as land-based Internet connections. For remote places like rural Africa, they would be enough to provide at least rudimentary access to the Internet through mobile phones.

More from Quartz:

Having a drone fleet could also give Facebook more leverage with mobile carriers as it tries to secure “zero-rate” deals in the developing world, which would allow people to use Facebook without it counting against their data plans. Facebook contends that zero-rating its content actually encourages overall mobile phone usage and thus is profitable for carriers in the long run. But what if Facebook can bypass the carriers and offer mobile data services to developing markets with a futuristic fleet of high-flying solar-powered drones? A couple of years from now, when Facebook has yet another meeting with a mobile carrier in India, Nigeria, or Indonesia to talk about a zero-rate deal, the carrier would be offered an implicit choice: Cut us a deal or we release the drones.