Meeting Notes - 20 May 2014

by **bdahm** Mon May 26, 2014 5:11 pm

We’re back at it again. Evin dropped in to see what it’s all about.

Drone On
We’re all familiar with the military applications of the drone. Smaller less lethal versions have begun to appear on the market and as that has happened prices have also fallen. Where they were several thousands of dollar, they are now coming in at under $1,000. Parrot is one of the leading manufacturers of these drones and they’ve come out with a new model called the bebop, which has an integrated camera and some advanced video and stabilization features. Prices and availability have not been announced, but here are some impressive videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayqUjVgZWuI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZdSMAG90Rs

The Ultimate Selfie
You can’t go anywhere these days without seeing someone holding up a smartphone of camera in front of him/herself and taking a picture, a selfie. Well, here’s the ultimate selfie, a guy who traveled around the world taking 360 degree selfies. Very impressive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTlXttQL_Yk

Top Ten Smartphone Purchase Drivers
We went around the room asking what were the most important considerations in the decision as to what smartphone to buy. Ease of use was way up there as was versatility and apps.

Interestingly no one mentioned price. Also no one mention the number one reason from the survey, battery life. I find it hard to believe that that is really what most people would choose as their primary purchase driver. Most people have no idea what battery life entails when they buy a smartphone. If anything, they just want to be sure they can make it through the day. Ultimately battery life depends on what you use your smartphone for, how often you rely on location services and how much video you watch. Nevertheless, here are the results.

1 Battery life
2 Ease of use
3 Operating system
4 Touch screen
5 Screen size
6 Type of network
7 Brand
8 Weight/size
9 Camera resolution
10 Web browsing speed

That pretty much raps it up. See you at the Show and Tell on May 27. I have a couple of items I brought back from the US.

-Bill