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Jul 10, 2014 at 7:57 pm
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800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
Trying to cast yourself in the mold of Steve Jobs' legend only proves both to be delusional fiction.
...just because you like a toy, Jeff, doesn't mean the market will like it or pay for it. How's the Fire phone selling? What is its market? Who is its customer? Exactly.
A leader who so easily finds fault in others, but somehow misses his own faults and failures has one helluva blind spot. Of course, when you've surrounded yourself with obsequious cowards, who is going to tell you what you don't know or show you what you can't see?
Past success is not predictive of future success.
Being good at one thing is not predictive of being good at other things or everything.
Amazon is a cult of personality. That must change or it will fail.
It's all fun and games till someone loses an eye.
(this applies to both drones flying willy nilly, and people with guns trying to stop drones poking them in the eye.)
Drones dropping down on top of downtown buildings delivering packages for a secretary to run up and grab because they need the hard copy now, yeah I can see that.
Once that is in place it'll spread quickly to other goods. Nationally no, maybe, well to some extent, but radiating out from densely populated areas, oh yeah. Add a worldwide view of densely populated areas, yep that is a big messenger service.
Seriously?
8′-(
Thanks for the memories.
The drones can't carry a lot.. But they can get to their destination straight as an arrow and without any ground-based hindrances.
@15,
If you think the landlords of commercial buildings will be okay with workers running up to the roof several times a day, you've obviously never had a real job in a real office. There's a reason why the door to the roof is always locked, and, for that matter, why the windows in newish buildings are always completely sealed. The owners of those buildings do not want the liability of accidents or suicides.
I'd like to see the numbers i.e. how much does it cost to run a drone & operator (as opposed to a car/driver, bike/biker) and how much it will cost $$$ to deliver a package etc etc.
The amount of "hard copy" has I assume been going down tremendously for decades; most drafts are digital & it's only final which need signature.
So to start with, it's a dollar & cents biz and that's not even counting landing the bird -- I'd like to see some of the expected logistics about using drones as a delivery service in a city.
Plus theres the whole "What if you miss in a densely populated neighborhood" aspect of shooting at a drone hoovering in the air.
But in a residential neighborhood, I don't want another noise maker buzzing around when I'm trying to relax or concentrate.
I don't want something which *could* be used to spy. That may not be the initial intent, but I remember Google claiming their Google Maps vehicles don't spy and were later caught snooping on people wifis.
And technically there are some challenges. How do you navigate around low utility lines, tree branches, signs, porch roofs, etc.? Not saying these can't be surmounted but if they are too difficult, where will the package be left - on the sidewalk?
While drones will have incredible uses and some even commercial delivery -- getting that copy of Piketty to a lighthouse keeper or fire tower watcher or sheep herder -- I am skeptical.
We also intend to use one or more of the six FAA‐selected test sites and seek a special
airworthiness certificate (experimental category) for our sUAS. However, it would be impractical
for Amazon to pursue either one of these avenues as our sole or even primary method of R&D
testing at this time, and doing so would unnecessarily tax scarce FAA resources. For example, it
would be an unreasonable burden on both the FAA and Amazon if we were required to apply for
a special airworthiness certificate for every sUAS design or testing configuration while we are in
R&D and conducting rapid prototyping.
Fuck you Amazon, if you want to play with the adults, then you have to follow the rules adults have to follow. "Oh noes, it's too hard to have airworthiness certificates for each and ever different design?" Fuck you, you should have to prove your designs are safe to use before you get to play around with them.
"Fuck you, Amazon" applies to any Amazon related anything.
The main issue is safety, and that's what the FAA's there for.
What is the range of a quadcopter going 50 mph carrying a 5 lb load?
School's out for the summer, apparently.
And this is from people who live in one of the most tech-savvy cities in the world.
What is in it for commercial landlords to allow for that? Is Amazon going to pay them to build fences around those "drop points"? Do you realize to what extent Seattle commercial landlords helped kill the Seattle Monorail because it would have moderately inconvenienced them? You live in a fantasy world.
Should this program take off (sorry), they're going to have to sort this out in court or deliveries may have to follow the streets below which isn't exactly optimal.
An easy and legal (in most states) way to bring them down is model rocketry. Take a few practice launches (without being fired at a drone) to get the timing down but once you got that it would be fairly easy. Model rockets tend to go up in a straight line so your aiming isn't THAT difficult. Just make sure you practice your OOPS defense for when you get caught.