Boeing has invested in a startup that’s trying to make autonomous flight the next big thing. 

The company announced today that it has invested in Near Earth Autonomy, which develops technology for unmanned flying vehicles of all shapes and sizes — from drones to flying cars to commercial planes. 

The two companies have also announced a long-term product development partnership. Charles Toups, Boeing’s vice president of Research and Technology, will join NEA’s board. 

Sanjiv Singh, NEA’s CEO and co-founder, told Mashable that Boeing’s investment is part of a broader effort to create and promote an industry-wide standard for for autonomous flight. In Boeing’s ideal future, every flying machine meets three goals: fly safely, land safely, and navigate without GPS.  Read more…

More about Drones, Plane, Flying, Boeing, and Helicopter

Source: Mashable | With new investment, Boeing is trying to make drones a part of your life

Bill McCoy was a rum runner who never watered down his hooch. So when you’re talking about the 100% real deal, you’re probably talking about him—‘The Real McCoy.’ 

Presented by Startup on Crackle Read more…

More about Startup, Boats Boat South, Alcohol, Illegal, and Drinks
Source: Mashable | ‘The Real McCoy’ is the creator of ‘Rum Row,’ a place of organized crime in the '20s

Technology is bad, part 719,533. 

Smartwatches designed for kids can be compromised in all kinds of ways, according to a recent report compiled by the Norwegian Consumer Council and published by the European Consumer Organization.

The watches — popular in Norway — are designed with parents in mind. They keep tabs on kids and allow parents to get in touch with them without relying on a kid to remember a smartphone wherever he or she goes. 

But the Norwegian Consumer Council called this a “false sense of security” because anyone with the right technical acumen can evidently hack the hell out of these things.  Read more…

More about Newsy, Business, and Consumer Tech

Source: Mashable | Parents, that children's smartwatch might not be a great idea

Condemning a monster like Harvey Weinstein is easy. But in the weeks that followed the floodgates of allegations incited by a New York Times and New Yorker, industry people have been forced to engage in a much more difficult conversation with themselves.

What role did they play? None have had to reckon with this haunting question more than the people closest to Weinstein, like his former employees at The Weinstein Co.

The messy, raw, personal experiences of “select” employees (who remained anonymous) were gathered in a document and reported Thursday in a powerful New Yorker article by Dana Goodyear, peeling back another tragic layer of this already wretched story: that Weinstein’s abusive behavior was not restricted to sexual assault. And that while the focus should remain squarely on the survivors of his sexual predation, there are also victims of a different nature. Read more…

More about Sexual Harassment, Sexual Assault, Rape, Hollywood, and Harvey Weinstein
Source: Mashable | Horror stories from Weinstein's employees reveal a much larger problem in Hollywood

Russell Brand visits the Travelling Man, a game shop in Leeds, and checks out some gems in the board gaming world.

Brand and shopkeeper Matt check out Elevenses (a card game about being a 1920s socialite), Pandemic (a mainstay in cooperative board games), and Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu (which adds some Lovecraft flavor to the Pandemic formula).

It’s cool to see Brand bring some attention to the beloved pastime, and probably give the Travelling Man a boost in sales to boot. Read more…

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Source: Mashable | Russell Brand compares board games to humanity and sends us into an existential crisis

This week, you can look to the night sky to see the butt of every planetary joke. 

Make your way to a relatively dark, light pollution-free area to see the planet Uranus high in the sky, glowing a blue-ish, green color in the constellation Pisces, according to NASA. 

Tonight will likely be your best chance to see the gaseous, outer planet because it’s reached opposition, meaning the Earth will be between Uranus and the sun. 

“It’s visible all night long and its blue-green color is unmistakeable,” NASA said in a video about the skywatching event. “It may be bright enough to see with your naked eye — and for sure in binoculars.” Read more…

More about Space, Nasa, Science, Saturn, and Meteor Showers
Source: Mashable | The butt of every space joke is high in the sky this week

Want to see some serious puppy dog eyes? Try spending more time near your pooch.

Sure, new toys and food are nice, but research from the University of Portsmouth shows that like most humans, what dogs really crave is attention.

In fact, scientists at the university’s Dog Cognition Centre recently found that dogs are more likely to show facial expressions if humans are paying attention to them.

In the study — which was published in Scientific Reports — dog cognition expert Dr. Juliane Kaminski and a team tested how dogs’ facial expressions changed in response to four different factors: a human facing them or turned away from them either with food or without. Read more…

More about Conversations, Science, Dogs, Animals, and Study

Source: Mashable | Study proves dogs produce more facial expressions when humans are watching