Your Selfie, 26 Feet Better.

Ok, who admits to having a selfie stick? Show of hands please…The proclaimed “selfie-stick” which has gained tremendous popularity in the last year seems to have been started as a joke. Whip it out at parties and all of your friends have a good laugh. However, it’s a legitimate tool that many in America and world-wide use today to get the perfect group shots and of course, selfies.  Well, just recently, the selfie has been brought to new heights with the Fotokite Phi. This device attaches a camera to a drone with a 26 foot leash attached to allow for the ultimate selfie.

The device itself is a lightweight quadrocopter drone  with an attachable leash that allows for users who aren’t quite skilled drone pilots to easily capture images steadily and also keep close track of their copter if their piloting goes awry.  The device also can be folded up and stored in a portable canister for easy travel.  Creators estimate that the device will retail for about $500 which is much less than your typical drone, but unfortunately doesn’t come with it’s own camera. A Go Pro camera must be bought separately which will add to the budget as well.

This new device is available for preorder currently, but once this new device becomes available to the public  selfies will never be the same.

Read more about the Fotokit Phi in “This quadcopter kite takes the selfie stick to new heights.”

 
What the Spotify App is Doing to Your Phone

This week, Spotify announced a change in their Privacy Policy which states that they will begin searching through your phone to provide “a more personalized experience.” The main items they will be looking through are your location and your Facebook activity. The change to the new policy has already pushed users to begin cancelling their accounts due to the lack of privacy.
In response to the uproar, CEO, Daniel Ek wrote a blog post to explain the new policies and defend Spotify’s reasoning, entitled, “Sorry.” The apology blog, however, did not deny that Spotify is seeking to access their users’ personal data.
 
The new policy changes include:

• Seeking access to the user’s contact’s photos and media files.
• Accessing the user’s GPS Location data based on their location sharing settings.

 
Reasons for the privacy policy change:

• Financial reports have surfaced that Spotify has yet to reach a level of profitability. 
• According to reports, 55 million active Spotify users still do not pay for the service.
• Access to this new information will allow for more targeted advertisements which will help pull larger advertisers to pay more money to place these ads.

Basically, Spotify needs more money and may be taking more of your private information to do so. Read more about the privacy changes here and decide for yourself – To Spotify or not to Spotify? That is the question.

Read more about “Why people are pissed about what Spotify is doing to their smartphones.” 
 

Google wants you to go solar

Google has devised a new service that will tell you how much money you could save by using solar energy. The new project called, Project Sunroof, uses satellite imagery to make a 3-D map of your roof and then estimates how much sun will hit solar panels if installed on your roof. The service explains how much money you could save by going solar in the next 2 decades. Although this service is still expanding, it is currently available in the San Francisco/Bay area and the greater Boston area.

The estimation and 3-D roofing technology uses “deep learning”  neural networks to figure out the separation between your roof and surrounding trees and shadows. The service also tracks local weather patterns and much more outside factors that make increase or decrease the value of having solar panels.

Read more about “How much can you save with solar panels? Just ask Google.”