The miniquad (drone) community relies on these apps to configure the flight controller software.

What makes them special when compared to a regular Web App is that these Chrome apps have access to the computer's USB/Serial interface so they can talk to the drone's flight controller.

For the small dev teams of these apps, Chrome is great because they only have to write one GUI to support all major platforms. Google achieved what Java was trying to achieve as far as run anywhere - the difference is Chrome apps don't suck.

There are also flight control black box readers that read log files in and overlay the data with flight video footage so you can diagnose tuning issues (though this could theoretically be done by uploading black box log data to a web app).

Check out Cleanflight, Betaflight, Raceflight, KissFC, Betaflight Blackbox Reader.

It's trickier than that...

What happens when you insert the facebook or adsense code on your website is that you are actually including content hosted by the ad network.

Your browser is then loading that content from that ad network because in addition to loading mygreatwebsite.com, you are also loading ads.adcompany.com or whatever.

The cookie from the ad network is linked to ads.adcompany.com. The same cookie is being set for every website that serves content from that same ad network, and so they are able to build a profile on you.

The bigger an ad network gets, the more websites it is installed on, the more clear the profile becomes.

I guess (I don't know the details of it) what this feature is doing, is preventing any cookies that differ from the domain displayed in the URL from being loaded. I'm not sure how exactly this is different from private browsing.

As a 5" Mini Race Quad builder/pilot, your comment is interesting to me.

With mini quads, the largest weight is the battery (Typically 170 grams which is 50% of the craft weight). Because the battery has to be easily swapable, it is very often installed on top or on bottom of the frame, which puts it either above or below the center line of the props.

There is a long standing argument back and forth for which design is better, but because the power to weight ratio is so high and the PID loop in the flight controller is so good, both generally fly exactly the same. The only time you notice a difference is when doing a flip or roll, as the center of gravity heavily influences the pivot point.

So my question is, what is the main difference between what we are experiencing with Mini Quads vs full sized manned aircraft?

Is it simply due to the power to weight ratio? (Mini Quads are typically north of 7:1 power to weight, which I'm sure is much higher than a manned multirotor craft)

Apple addressed this.

If you click the sleep button five times, touch / face id is disabled and you have to enter a pin code to unlock the phone.

The problem is that you have to know this and remember to do it if you are being arrested or mugged.

Have you been drinking?

And countries stay dirt poor only so long. Eventually they have a revolution, kill the incompetent leaders and get competent leaders. So in the long run population always wins.

The USA is hundreds of years old (since it was discovered). China is thousands of years old.

I don't think this argument holds up.

Few people buy them, and they last forever.

To your point, I'm still using using a 30" Apple Cinema display HD.

I paid $1600 for it and I've used it every work day for the last 10 years. I only wish it didn't require dual link DVI - it's becoming a huge pain to find the necessary adapters to go from Thunderbolt3/USBC to Dual Link DVI.

Microsoft as a company has gotten quite good at defending an imperfect host from a relentless barrage of clever bad stuff. If any tech company is well suited to finding a cure for Cancer, its Microsoft. The human body is the human body. You can't redesign it to make it cancer proof, much like Microsoft couldn't start over with Windows. Cancer is myriad and ever changing, much like the viruses, trojans, etc that are created to exploit Microsoft's products.

The fact that the FBI isn't complaining about Android should tell you something.

A new version of iOS can be be uploaded to a phone when it's put into DFU mode without a passcode and without wiping out the data.

Have a read here for more info.

This is precisely why I went with Insteon smart switches with an ISY994i and Homebridge for interfacing to my phone. It is completely and totally under my control and I have not trusted any outside company with the keys (literally) to my house.

The problem is that the above solution only works for a nerd such as myself. There is 0% chance your average home owner could get their smartphone to control their house without the help of the "cloud" (in this case a thermostat that phones home every so often).

I did not mean to post the above as AC.

The iPhones that have a thumbprint scanner have a "Secure Enclave". This hardware is used in conjunction with the software to make it impossible to unlock the device without the passcode.

And has anyone done the math on how much pollution is created during the lifecycle of those lithium ion batteries?

They have to be made (hint, they're not made from daisies and dandelions). Recharged (fossil fuel fired plants) and disposed of.

See RenderMan