Whether the company name was intentional or not, EHang paints a picture of what its product does. China-based EHang creates unmanned aerial vehicles that hang in the air taking video or photos of what’s below. Ghost, one of the company’s drones, is an Indiegogo crowd funding success story. The company has far surpassed its original goal of $100,000 by raising $596,702 with 26 days to go.

Ghost landing gear sets the drone down gently.

Ghost does not require a cumbersome RC controller. You guide it with your iOS or Android smartphone and a small G-Box with 2.4GHz 80mw standard Bluetooth communicator. Auto Mode points the drone head first towards its destination and allows you to concentrate on the visuals you want to capture instead of worrying about piloting. You’ll want to use the micro control mode to pinpoint a specific location by simply sliding it in the direction you want to drone to go. It can get there tail first if necessary.

A simple finger tap points your drone to its destination.

GoPro equipment is compatible with Ghost including the Hero 4 and is assisted by the 2D gimbal which keeps your shots stable. Flying at night is possible due to Night Mode with LED lights to visually keep track of its position. Ghost is wind resistant to 21 knots and waterproof so weather won’t ground the aerial vehicle. If anything goes awry, Ghost incorporates automatic return if the connection is lost.

You can still get in on the Indiegogo Ghost project. Support starts with a $5 fan club contribution and goes to $49,000 with a list of perks in between including a $355 DIY kit that includes parts for you to assembly the Ghost yourself. Cyber Monday offered the following:

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The campaign started November 10, 2014 and will close on January 9, 2015 at the end of CES. The company will be exhibiting in the Las Vegas Convention Center, LVCC South Hall 2. BSN* will be able to provide our readers with a hands-on opinion of this and other unmanned systems after the show. In the meantime, you can tell EHang what you want them to do to improve on their Ghost with the cash they have raised beyond their original goal. Vote at their survey site.  One option is to expand the white ghostly finish to other colors. Maybe one of these? Or ask for your favorite color – neon orange perhaps?

In addition to Ghost for recreational use, EHang also develops the larger Skyway for commercial use. The Chinese company also has offices in San Carlos, California.

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In case you missed hearing about the stunt that TGI Fridays was doing for the holidays, the “Mistletoe Drone” was a remotely controlled quadcopter with mistletoe hanging beneath it.

The quadcopter would be flown around the restraunt as a sort of roving kiss-cam.  You know it as that entertaining thing that you enjoy at sporting events, so why wouldn’t you want it when you go out to eat?  The seasonal promo has been jumping around from location to location with success and without incident until December 4th at the chain’s Sheepshead Bay location. The operator had a 10 inch quadcopter that he encouraged a reporter from Courier Life to let land on her hand.  When she flinched after the quadcopter touched down it went careening into the photographer’s face.

Reports say that the operator David Quiones stated that there had been no incidents before and even blamed the reporters.  Though it should be noted that operators of RC aircraft need to be in control of what they are piloting and use the utmost caution to prevent injury to others. A spokeswoman for TGI Fridays said that the prior events had no casualties and dismissed the reporter’s concerns about future injuries.  What is most troubling is the statement of the operator to the reporters, which Quiones said “If people get hurt, they’re going to come regardless. People get hurt in airplanes, they still fly.  There is a risk involved — anything flying, there is risk.”

It is amazing that there have not been issues before as flying copters inside that are that powerful is a very dangerous thing to do.  The 23 inch six motor copter that they also use did not have blade protectors for  whirling 5 inch blades when the Courier Life photographed it flying around.  These blades are spinning at very high rates of speed and are very dangerous and should be protected in a situation like this.  It is peculiar since there are photos at other locations that show the same copter with protectors on.  One can only be thankful it was the smaller of the two that inflicted the damage, as the larger one most definitely would have been much more gruesome.

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Hashima Island, also known as Gunkanjima (‘Battleship Island’), is one of Japan’s most famous abandoned areas, and is located in Nagasaki Prefecture. Since its re-opening to the public in 2009, many photographers have brought home HD images of the deserted military mining facility.

Major Japanese newspaper company Nishinippon Shimbun however, wants to take a step up from the conventional documentation style of the uninhabited island. The company planned to showcase the historical place in full 4K HD, and starting a few months back last September, the company have dispatched a professional team of photographers, as well as its army of drones. Yes you heard that correctly. Equipped with 4K HD recording equipment, the company’s drone ‘swarm’ scoured the entire island, snapping photos and recording video footage of many of its buildings and facilities.

While a portion of Hashima island is officially open to the public today, much of the island is still off limits to visitors and outsiders. For one thing, the fragility of most of the aging structures poses a clear risk and hazard to anyone who sets foot on these areas. Not only using drones considered safer this way, but it also provides a way to explore these restricted areas while still preserving its ‘untouched’ state. It is already largely considered as a heritage site after all, though there seems to be no word on using these drones to tread the dark, lightless, abandoned building halls at night.

Though the project may seem like a promotional gimmick by the newspaper company, it is actually for official historical documentation. The photos, videos, and the upcoming documentary itself will be part of what is called as the ‘Gunkanjima Archives‘. The updated information will serve well to give the already growing popularity of this archaic tourist destination even more public exposure.

For now, let’s just enjoy the recently released trailer of the company’s soon-to-be-completed project. (in 4K HD of course)

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Remember that pre-Cyber Monday 60 Minutes puff piece about Amazon’s drone delivery? Well, Amazon’s most successful marketing ploy ever just hit a huge snag as the FAA has just banned drones from delivering packages. Sure, DHL is also testing such a service, but they’re doing so in Germany where no such laws currently exist to restrict it. The document that the FAA released today asks for comment on their interpretation of the model aircraft regulation law which they believe does not allow such aircraft to participate in commercial businesses as opposed to hobbying.

Frankly, the FAA’s interpretation of the model aircraft spec rule clearly indicates that they want nothing to do with drones flying over our skies. They may be justified in restricting such flights until real commercial and regulatory rules are employed in order to ensure safety and legality. However, many of the airlines may also be pushing for this because they all fly tons of packages over the air from city to city and if they have competition from drones there is a good chance they could see less air traffic from packages. Even though realistically most of these drone deliveries are short distance and should not compete with the airlines at all. But, the airlines may be arguing that the drones could endanger their planes, pilots and passengers if not properly regulated, which may actually be a fair argument.

Obviously, considering how many planes and helicopters we already have in the air every day there are certain restrictions that need to be put on drones and drone flight, but overly regulating them may also result in innovation being hampered. After all, there’s a good chance that developments in drone flight technology could help us eventually find a way to individual human flight. By restricting drone flight too much we risk the chance of missing out on a potentially large business and improving the overall efficiency and efficacy of shipping things short distances quickly. Especially when you think about places like New York City where automobile travel is almost worthless and couriers can barely carry one package at a time. A world where drones deliver packages to the roofs of buildings and then those packages are delivered within the building sounds far more efficient than having hundreds of couriers running around the city delivering individual packages trying to weave through traffic.

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