Also, he's the only guy that:
a. does the liberal/liberation spin that IS silicon valley
b. actually talks about tech like DRONES, along with BEARS.
c. has writers that are very, very tech savvy, much like the Simpsons and Futurama
d. Michael Stipe and Patrick Steward as continuing guests. That is /.... but Need I say more?

A pilot here as well. This article and incident has so much fail in it. There's NO information about the incident aside from the person being injured.

Wifi flying? Only the AR.Drone has it.

All the photos show a DJI flaming wheel 550 hex. It likely runs a NAZA or ACE system. Likely a NAZAv2 as the camera looks like a GoPro and every article mentions iPhone(!). NAZAs only use WiFi for camera and ground station supervisory, not actual flying. It's is a man in the loop system. The pilot still has control via a 2.4Ghz narrowband radio (like a spektrum, FrSky, etc...). NAZA allows you to hit a button (goto waypoint) on the iphone, and it autonomously flies BUT allows user override with the r/c sticks. And the wifi portion only allows 2-3 functions: Land, goto Home, or goto waypoint aside from live video.

When it comes to hacking, there's so much fail here. The guy's obviously is a aerial photographer, NOT a drone user. You can't hack the 2.4 narrowband--it's binded, the iPhone wifi? sure you can hack that, but it's for live video and a couple of 'safe' commands. This pilot clearly lost control.

Now look at the reality of the situation: you're 25 feet above a crowd (w/cellphones at 2.4 or 868Mhz), Urban canyon WiFi access points, TV crew wireless mics (400, 5.8 & 2.4), and running a system that has a iphone (2.4 and 868), narrowband radio (2.4), and bluetooth running. All basically in the palm of your hand. You're asking for RF interference... and that's likely the cause. Of course, the pilot likely did not set up failsafe features--cause it's usually off by default and ignored by users (much like turning on your firewall or javascript...). FAIL for a professional.

Folks, let this story brew--likely the truth will come out as currently everyone is calling the 'OMG the sky if falling', literally. Since the pilot does not have a CAA permit/license shows the lack of knowledge of his tools. As well as the event host for hiring him.

Nice, MEMS, compasses, RF, batteries, inductive charging (in today's phone) and memory.

Mix that with strong electromagnets and you will like have a Ara that could just a simple 5" LCD monitor (cause nothing else will work) once the magnets turn on.

Webdevs did not develop this--would even work in the 1st place if so.

I'm sure Nest had their hardware engineers, aka "Makers", design this. Cause the integration between the web-enabled part and critical R/T hardware is [now] obviously terrible. Should have had some real h/w engineers design this.

Sure puts a black eye on them considering all the hoopla last month w/Google buying them out.

Actually, it's welcome to the silicon valley, venture capital backed, google always in beta Internet of Things.

Honestly, if Honeywell or some other non-SV-VC-Google-Facebook-Cisco-Apple company released something similar, the turn out would be more like: the UI crash again, but the basic function (detecting a fire) still works fine.

Yep, and likely was NSA research, which is a typical exploration into the subject... much like any research university.

It's when the politicians and generals (aka customers) decide to take research out of R&D and into production is when people cry foul. ThinThread-TT (sure the agency doesn't use thinthread, but likely uses a variant of its design in today's system, regardless of what TT creators say) is a great example.

Another great example is SE-Linux.

Helium mixes with any bladder material out there today. Sure low quality helium will work, but it needs to be 100% helium on the inside--that will be a nightmare to manage.

Also the carbon footprint to mine all that helium and make all that high tech cable more or less than the power it puts out over a year? My guess it it's actually inefficient. Mind that the weather issues this thing screams out (i.e. can be used in 1% of the world's normal conditions).

Cool concept? Yes. Looks cool? Yep. VC hyped holy grail? MIT? Yep. Yep. Beneficial? Likely not. Costs? Likely $$$ in the O&M.

What's easier and cheaper and more robust to maintain: a building structure, boat or a airplane/aerial? In that order... and that's why we have windmill structures.

hacking MBA buzzwords and littering a bunch of sound bites specifically in SV speak.

Has she interviewed any of these CEOs for her analysis or reading someone else's bios? Doesn't look like and 1/2 the article is about her.

Better?

She just came up with a Web 2.0 presentation... mind that using motivational images.

Not really. Something's brewing in the mids of SV's CEOs and VCs. Looking at Apple (wearables), Google (robotics) and now FB (wearables). FYI, M$ has been in the space for some time....

All the SV companies are going into "stealth mode" (really hate the term) to gear up for IoTs. IoT appears to be the next cash cow all are heading towards at this point. The FB purchase just proves it. And it makes sense: data exploitation, hardware, and mobility. Stupid MBAs call that the triple play -- and the VCs are salivating over IoT like cocaine ready in their hand and hookers in their face.

Get ready for the next high fellas.

mind that a older coworker is asking for 100K, and likely wants to work 40-45hr weeks (occasional 60hrs as reasonable).

The young guys take 60K, work 60hrs typically, hence effectively making 45K. Who gives a damn about productivity as long as the product ships on time by marketing and bizdev demands.

Heck look at all those google guys, making $200K, but working 60-80 hrs a week. That's really a 100-120K job and no life outside the company, likely bad health, and perhaps erratic social skills?

Does it even matter?

I mean even the valley pushes WAH, telecommuting, and the whole cloud idea itself.

Doesn't matter where you work, it matters how you get your message out and time to market. Hence why the valley is messed up.... no risk taking and innovation. The stuff they call risk taking nowadays in the valley is whether you should invest in your buddy from Stanford or the new MBA from MIT.

cronyism

That's all I need to say...

Use the right tool for the right job.

IDE == application and UI programming. Usually lots of business logic or use cases.
text editor == optimization or network programming. Usually non-UI graphics, socket stuff, bit banging.

oh and lastly (flamesuit ON)....

vi == everything else.

Sounds like Assange is the Bill Gates of information.

I mean, I know we all love Windows cause we love Bill...

Now Assange needs a Steve Jobs equivalent.