Tag Archives: dragonfly
NASA delays its Titan drone mission by another year
Meet Dragonfly, the luxurious and sporty ‘hypercar of the scooter world’
Each brand and product category always has a niche for high-adrenaline users. You’ve got gaming laptops and accessories, sportscars, monster trucks, action-movies, nitro-brew coffees, energy drinks, it’s high time the scooter got its own version worthy of the ‘hyper’ prefix.
Designed and developed by London-based D-Fly group, the Dragonfly is the world’s first and only hyperscooter. Think of it as a hypercar you ride while standing. With a dual-powertrain that provides high speeds of up to 38mph (that’s 61.1 km/h in the metric system) and a removable rechargeable battery that provides 28 miles of range (45km), the Dragonfly sits definitely on the high-adrenaline end of the scooter spectrum. It comes with an F-1 inspired 3-dimensional tilt-steer system that offers an unbridled riding experience aside from the Dragonfly’s 4.5-inch 4K dashboard and in-built high-definition Bluetooth speakers that extend the experience beyond just the ride.
The scooter’s design evokes a sense of ‘hyper’ too, with a carbon-fiber and aerospace-aluminum body that keeps the scooter aerodynamic, sturdy, and lightweight at just 32lbs (14.5 kilograms). It comes with a folding base that reduces its entire footprint to less than 12 inches, allowing you to keep it vertically standing on the subway with you, or stash it in a corner where you live/work/study. Upgrading the experience for people who already use scooters for last-mile commutes, the Dragonfly comes with puncture-free tires, on-board storage for your laptop, and advanced security measures including a manual lock and RFID lock, as well as GPS tracking and geo-fencing capabilities. Oh, and you can preorder this bad-boy for $100… sound familiar?
Designer: D-Fly Group
White House: Google’s work in China is not a security risk
Earlier this month, Facebook board member and billionaire investor Peter Thiel accused Google of working with China's government. Today, The Wall Street Journal reports that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that he and President Trump have no n...
NASA’s Dragonfly mission is sending an eight-rotor drone to Titan
NASA announced today its next big mission to explore our Solar System. The agency has greenlit a mission called Dragonfly that will send a spacecraft to the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Dragonfly, the latest of NASA's New Frontiers progra...
Google thwarts shareholder challenge to its China search plans
If investors and employees were hoping to prompt cultural change at Alphabet during the company's shareholder meeting, they were likely disappointed. Voters at the meeting rejected all shareholder proposals, including a resolution that would have re...
How Google’s scandals gave rise to the tech labor movement
2018 proved to be a momentous year for employee activism at some of the world's biggest tech companies. Google, Amazon and Microsoft all found themselves under fire from their staffs over a variety of social and policy issues. Silicon Valley's rank-a...
Congress grills Google CEO over Chinese search engine plans
If you were hoping that Google chief Sundar Pichai would shed more light on his company's potential censored search engine for China... well, you'll mostly be disappointed. Rhode Island Representative David Cicilline grilled Pichai on the recently a...
The Dragonfly proves that tactile switches aren’t going anywhere
While companies are investing in voice-assisted homes where you can simply control lights by talking to them, New Deal Design’s Dragonfly switches show that tactile controls can and will always provide an experience that’s much more relatable and fulfilling to a user. Deviating from the traditional concept of switches, the Dragonfly relies on touch-sensitive switchboards and a connected system that lets you intuitively control your lights.
The switchboards feature a backlit display with different columns for different rooms in the house. These columns are ‘filled with light’ and can be dragged up or down, adjusting the room’s brightness by simply quantifying light itself. Sliding your finger upwards along the column lets it fill up with light, and makes the room in question brighter. Individual columns control individual rooms, and Dragonfly switchboards are placed in every room, allowing you to, from wherever you are, control all the lights in your home. So you don’t need to go to the kitchen to A. notice that the lights are on, and B. switch them off… you can do that from your bedroom itself, or any other room in the house. The animated display makes controlling your lights intuitive, and much more fun than telling Alexa to switch your lights on or off. It provides visual feedback that completes the experience for the user. What’s more is that the Dragonfly can be automated to follow broader tasks too, like switching off all the lights when you leave your home!
Designer: New Deal Design
Google confirms secret Dragonfly project, but won’t say what it is
Representatives from a number of major tech companies appeared before the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Energy and Transportation today, discussing data privacy and concerns over consumer protection. Google sent its new chief privacy officer, Keit...