Drone shows damage after Nepal earthquake

http://news.sky.com/story/1473048/drone-footage-reveals-extent-of-nepal-damage

"Video footage taken by a drone has revealed the damage caused by the magnitude-7.8 quake which devastated Nepal as the death toll rose above 4,000.

Thousands of sick and wounded are due to spend a third night out in the open because of the fear of more collapsing buildings.
The drone footage shows toppled monuments, cracks across major roads and widespread damage to residential buildings across the city."

Another good use of drones.

Quadcopters learn to fight invaders in Ukraine

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/apr/24/crowdfunding-war-ukraines-diy-drone-makers

"We pulled away, hearing a firefight to the right of us, and passed armoured vehicles firing towards the separatist forces’ positions until we finally pulled over on a muddy track. Removing a giant box from the roof of the vehicle, the soldiers took out an enormous multirotor drone. Within minutes it was set up and flying thousands of feet above our position. Then they quickly brought it back down – and began to attach the bomb.
The drone pilot fiddled with the controls and two soldiers stepped forward to attach the bomb to a holding mechanism that sprung out from underneath the drone. It was quickly in the air again, hovering just a few hundred feet from our position. And then they dropped the bomb.
But nothing happened. They just laughed, and turned to us saying: 'It’s just a practice bomb.'”

I kind of hope quadcopters aren't weaponized, but it's probably inevitable.

Has Canada figured out drone regulations?

http://www.popsci.com/why-canada-winning-drone-race?con&dom=editorspicks&src=syndication&google_editors_picks=true

"With a quick, flexible process for giving permits to commercial operators, and a blanket exemption for small UAS, the civil aviation authority Transport Canada issued 1,672 commercial drone licenses last year, 945 in 2013, and 345 in 2012. As of this writing, the FAA has issued a grand total of just 28.
The Federal Aviation Administration finally proposed rules for commercial use of UAS last month, but even so, the agency’s cumbersome rule-making process means that nothing will change for at least another 18-24 months. So even though the FAA is dropping the requirement for a pilot's license, you'll still need to have a license to fly an actual plane until those rules are finalized -- in roughly 2017 or so.
In the new rules 'the FAA clearly concedes that the requirement of having a pilots’ license has very limited relevance for UAS operation,' says Diana Cooper, a drone-law specialist at the Canadian firm of LaBarge Weinstein.' There’s no reason that until we have those rules in place, they should be requiring a pilot’s license for an exemption. That [change] could be implemented right away. But I’m not sensing any messaging from the FAA that suggests that they’re planning to do that.'"

quadcopter lands on Japanese Prime Minister's office, freaks everybody out

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/04/22/small-drone-found-perched-on-roof-japanese-prime-minister-office/

"Police said Wednesday it was not immediately known who was responsible. They are investigating the possibility it had crashed during a flight.
Public television NHK footages showed dozens of police and officials around the drone, which was covered by a blue tarp.
NHK said the drone is about 50 centimeters (1.7 feet) in diameter and had four propellers, carrying a small camera and something that looked like a flare. It was also decorated with a symbol that warns of radioactive material."

CNN makes nice use of quadcopter video

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/17/opinions/lauter-pitcavage-oklahoma-bombing/

Some shots you can only get with a drone.

Ape takes down a quadcopter

3D Robotics Solo, in conjunction with GoPro

http://www.cnet.com/news/3d-robotics-solo-quadcopter-drone-may-be-the-ultimate-gopro-accessory/

"Solo, its controller and optional Solo Gimbal -- a motorized 3-axis camera stabilizer -- is the culmination of a couple years of work and a partnership with GoPro. A partnership that has resulted in a drone with full in-flight camera control and live, low-latency HD streaming straight to mobile devices.
To do this, 3DR had to give Solo a brain of its own.
'What Solo introduces are two new technologies for deep integration with GoPros,' said Chris Anderson, 3D Robotic's CEO and co-founder. 'The first thing, is because it has an on-board Linux computer, it's capable of running apps for computer vision for object tracking and artificial intelligence and other things. And because it also has a long-distance broadband connection, it's able to transmit not just the HD video, but flight data and telemetry.'"

 This might be my next quadcopter!  I plan to use my original as my bang-around practice quad.