Alan Brandon

I recently wrote two articles for Gizmag about UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). The market for these small, maneuverable drones is really taking off (OK, pun intended). The CyberQuad is a high-end industrial model designed for surveillance in areas that may be too dangerous for humans. For example, the CyberQuad has been used to investigate a burning oil rig.

The other UAV I wrote about is the AR.Drone, a hobbyist gaming drone that you control using your iPhone with augmented reality!

This is cool. Researchers at Columbia University have developed an augmented reality device that can provide live, hands-on guidance for maintenance and repair tasks on military or other equipment. The ARMAR system combines sensors and a head-mounted display to guide technicians through repair and maintenance procedures while they perform the procedure. This eliminates the need to flip back and forth between a manual and the task at hand.

But here’s an idea: What if instead of leafing through pages or scrolling through an online manual, you could simply see your way through a task? Just slide on a headset and work your way through a bit of customized, augmented-reality education.

Check out the full article at O’Reilly Radar.

I just read a great post on the New York Time’s On Language blog about misleading headlines. I’ve always loved those humorously ambiguous headlines such as “Man helps dog bite victim,” or “Local high school dropouts cut in half.” It turns out there’s a term for these bloopers, and they’re called “crash blossoms.”

Mike O’Connell, an American editor based in Sapporo, Japan, spotted the headline “Violinist Linked to JAL Crash Blossoms” and wondered, “What’s a crash blossom?” (The article, from the newspaper Japan Today, described the successful musical career of Diana Yukawa, whose father died in a 1985 Japan Airlines plane crash.)

Check out the rest of the piece for more info, including the dangers of removing “little words.”