Ending a car chase can be dangerous for both the police and the pursued driver. Over the years, a variety of devices have been tasked with making this process safer and easier. However, one has recently floated to the top of the heap: the “Grappler Bumper.” Designed to use high-strength webbing to snag the rear wheel of an escaping vehicle, the Grappler Bumper was recently spotted ending a high-speed chase in Arizona—safely.
The entire ordeal was captured on video on Friday, April 29 from the perspective of a following helicopter, before being broadcasted by FOX10 Phoenix. The driver of the silver Ford Fusion was attempting to evade police after reportedly falling asleep in traffic and allegedly possessing drugs and weapons in the car. When police attempted to detain him, he reportedly rammed their vehicles and initiated a chase. The pursuit went on for some time, but end result of the would-be escape is clear. An unmarked Tahoe rolls up behind the driver with the device deployed, it snags his rear wheel, and the Fusion is more or less dead in the water within a few short seconds.
The grappler, when it is not deployed, looks like a regular push bar on the front of a vehicle. That means it can be used by undercover vehicles as it is in this situation. Likewise, it doesn’t matter whether or not the vehicle is front, rear, or all-wheel drive, it will still do the job. Once the wheel is snagged, the tether connecting the wheel to the chase vehicle can either be released to get distance from the pursued vehicle, or maintain its connection, as it does in this instance. This allows police to slow the suspect’s vehicle mostly on their own terms.
The device was invented by Leonard Stock in 2016, who, after witnessing the seemingly needless carnage that could be caused by a police chase, wanted to create a safer way to handle the situations. Years after his initial prototype snagged the wheel of the family Suburban, the Grappler Bumper is now in use by law enforcement agencies all over the country. The company claims that grappler bumpers are deployed on a nearly daily basis in order to help end pursuits safely.
In response to this particular incident, Stock said “[The] technique used was textbook. The perfect scenario and perfect execution of the grappler.” He went on to note that, while he hears frequently of their use, it’s uncommon to see them on live television, which makes this particular case interesting. “We’ve only had a few stories where some of the uses have been on… a dashcam, and so it’s been limited, but for it to be live TV is pretty exciting.”
So while police chases can often be risky; endangering innocent bystanders, officers, and potential suspects alike, technology like the Grappler Bumper can ensure—when deemed necessary—that things are handled as safely and quickly as possible.
Got a tip or question for the author? You can reach them here: peter@thedrive.com
CNN Plus, the news network’s dedicated streaming service, is shutting down before even turning a month old. Chris Licht, the new CEO of CNN, delivered the news to his new team at an all-hands meeting on Thursday, and the service will shut down entirely on April 30th.
The network seemed to be doomed from the very beginning. The early subscriber numbers were bleak:Axios reported that about 150,000 people had signed up for the $5.99-a-month service as of this week, while CNBC reported that fewer than 10,000 people were using it on a daily basis. The service launched in the middle of huge turnover at the company, both with Licht’s appointment and with the newly combined Warner Bros. Discovery corporate structure being finalized.
Enlarge / What3words divides the planet into 3×3m squares and assigns each one a randomly generated three-word address. (credit: What3words)
Infotainment systems have come a long way in the past couple of decades, driven in no small part by consumer demand for in-car navigation. But whether a system is powered by a Jones Live-Map or a constellation of Global Positioning System satellites, there's one constant issue: Finding a precise location can be a real pain.
The most straightforward fix would be to use latitude and longitude coordinates, but most of us don't speak latitude and longitude fluently, and even fewer of us know our addresses in those coordinates. That's where what3words comes in. And on Wednesday, the company added Subaru to the list of automakers that it works with, joining Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover, Ford, Lamborghini, Lotus, and Mitsubishi.
What3words is a mapping company that looks at navigation differently. It divides the planet into a grid of squares, each measuring 3×3 m. Each one of those squares gets its own identifier made up of three random words—hence the company's name.
A photo of damaged Russian armor in Ukraine, spray-painted with the word "WOLVERINES" in English, has begun to circulate on Twitter. The image, which readers can see at the top of this post, is a direct callback to the 1984 film "Red Dawn," but the parallels between the photo and the pop-culture hit go beyond just the graffiti.
Scott Detrow, NRP White House correspondent currently covering events in Ukraine on the ground, initially drew attention to the graffitied armor on the morning of April 7th, but was unable to take a clear picture of it. By that afternoon, an image of the armor (verified by Detrow) was provided by Oleg Tolmachev, a U.S. citizen (born in Belarus) who moved to Ukraine in 2020. Tolmachev is the head of production at Naftogaz, a Ukrainian oil and gas company, and has been documenting the impact of Russia's war in Ukraine on social media.
The damaged armor pictured is a BMP-2 Fighting Vehicle, a Soviet-era infantry combat vehicle fielded in the early-1980s. As its main armament, the BMP-2 sports a single 30mm gun in a turret on top of the vehicle. Although the precise location of the BMP remains unknown, Tolmachev confirmed the armor had been spotted somewhere west of Kyiv.
Starring Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, and Lead Thompson, "Red Dawn"centers on a fictional Soviet invasion of the United States (supported by Cuba and Nicaragua.) Playing on fears in the Cold War context of the mid-1980s, the film follows a group of high school students living in Calumet, Colorado, hell-bent on defending their hometown at all costs. The group's high school mascot, a wolverine, provides the name for their insurgent force. In the clip below, readers can see the spray-painted "Wolverine" logo depicted in the film.
In an extended version of the above clip, readers can see the "Wolverine" logo spray-painted onto various enemy military vehicles as depicted in the film (clearly imitated on the damaged BMP-2.)
The cry "Wolverines!" and the crudely spray-painted moniker has become a part of pop culture, often used comedically as a symbol by those resisting a greater power.
Parallels between "Red Dawn" and Russia's present invasion of Ukrainian are obvious for those who have seen the film. It's the bravery, and ultimately the sacrifice, of the resisters to Soviet aggression such as the "Wolverines" who turn the tide of the conflict. Local, everyday people make the difference by taking the fight directly to the Russians.
Of course, we do not know who graffitied the word "WOLVERINES" to the side of the BMP-2 in Ukraine. The film itself was extremely popular worldwide, making $38 million at the box office way back in the mid-1980s and inspiring a 2012 reboot, starring Chris Hemsworth, which traded the Soviets and their allies as the invading forces for North Koreans.
The spray-painted BMP-2 serves as yet another strange sight in a bizarre conflict, albeit one in which the Ukrainians have truly earned the right to call themselves "Wolverines!"
The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X / S versions of Grand Theft Auto V and GTA Online will be released on March 15th, and from now until June 14th, you can snag them at a big discount. It seems like the next-gen versions will offer some nice upgrades, including graphical improvements and better loading times, so they could be a good buy if you have wanted to jump back in or experience the games for the first time.
Here’s how the pricing shakes out, and if you preorder the games, they’ll begin preloading on your console. If you’re lucky enough to have snagged a hard-to-find PS5, that platform has the better deals.
The PS5 version of the GTA V, which includes the story mode and GTA Online, is available to preorder for just $9.99 — a 75...
Lol "There is no need to declare the captured Russian tanks and other equipment, because the cost of this shit does not exceed 100 living wages"
The Russian invasion in Ukraine has now been raging for almost a week, having met stiff resistance on all fronts from a potent and capable defense. Amidst the chaos, resourceful Ukrainian civilians have taken the initiative to capture Russian military hardware all over the country. Noting the extraordinary events, Ukraine's National Agency for the Protection Against Corruption (NAPC) has announced that any captured Russian tanks or other hardware are not subject to declaration for taxation purposes, as reported by Interfax.
In a public statement posted on Facebook and elsewhere, the government body pulls no punches. Translated to English, it reads "Have you captured a Russian tank or armored personnel carrier and are worried how to declare it? Keep calm and continue to defend the Motherland! There is no need to declare the captured Russian tanks and other equipment, because the cost of this shit does not exceed 100 living wages (UAH 248,100)."
Furthermore, the NAPC states that such articles are not subject to declaration as "they were acquired not as a result of making some kind of law, but in connection with the full-scale aggression of 24.02.2022 of the Russian Federation," and that as the Russian hardware "usually comes into your possession already destroyed," it is therefore impossible to assess its value for taxation purposes.
Obviously, few on the ground would genuinely be thinking of taxes when dealing with a foreign superpower invading their homeland. The statement is very much a middle finger to the forces attempting to occupy Ukraine, intended as a galvanizing statement that helps remind the citizens of Ukraine that they have been defying all odds in the fight thus far. It's a hallmark of the defiant attitude of the Ukrainian people in the face of unprecedented aggression from the Kremlin.
Slightly more serious in tone is the NAPC's post that citizens need not worry about declaring donation funds received for the aid of the army and victims of the war. Translated, the organization posted that "This money is not your personal income, but is instead a manifestation of the unity and solidarity of the Ukrainian people." It's a regular theme the organization has posted on since the beginning of the war, reiterating that Ukrainians "should not waste time filing tax paperwork," imploring that the key was "First victory – then declaration."
Many Russian military vehicles have also been abandoned during the conflict, raising questions as to the invading army's morale and supplies. Working tanks have been found abandoned with full fuel tanks, while others have become mired in the thick mud so common in Ukraine as the land thaws out in the spring.
Indeed, this mud has proven particularly challenging for the invading forces. It's been cited as a primary reason for Russia's huge convoy of military hardware that has been stalled on the way to Kyiv for several days now. Speculation is that the Russian vehicles are stuck to using roads as their vehicles cannot traverse the muddy ground. Photos have been released of Russian missile systems throwing tires from their rims, suggestive of issues of poor maintenance and dry rot, or poor-quality knockoff tires of Chinese or Belarusian make.
The logistical issues of Russian forces have been welcome news for the defenders of Ukraine, as has the fact that Russia has still failed to establish air superiority. However, the situation remains fraught. Cities have been under heavy shelling and civilian casualties are mounting, with concerns that food supplies could become stretched in Ukraine's cities.
On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky once again pled for a no-fly zone to be established over the country to help reduce civilian deaths. "If you can't give Ukrainians a date, how long do you need?" asked Zelensky, adding "How many people should be blown up?"
NATO has thus far resisted these calls, largely out of fear that putting NATO aircraft in direct conflict with Russian forces could spark nuclear war. Some Western politicians are beginning to question that assumption, however. "We should have more confidence in ourselves managing these cold war high-stakes scenarios," UK Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood said, "rather than hesitating only to face up to a bigger battle in the future.”
Russia's hopes of a quick and easy war have been brutally frustrated by a concerted Ukrainian defense, but an end to the conflict is yet to appear in sight. A second round of talks ended today without resolution, but what remains clear is that the people of Ukraine are more than willing to defend their homeland, and they aren't shy about saying so.
Got a tip? Let the author know: lewin@thedrive.com
Blade Runner’s next act will apparently be a live-action TV series from Amazon, with original director Ridley Scott set to return as an executive producer on the project, Blade Runner 2099, Variety reports.
Blade Runner 2099 will pick up 50 years in the future from the Denis Villeneuve-helmed sequel Blade Runner 2049 from 2017 and will see Silka Luisa (the showrunner on Apple TV Plus’ Shining Girls) writing and executive producing the series. Deadline addsthat Scott may also direct the show himself, too.
Scott had previously teased the project in a BBC interview back in November — the first public mention of the series — mentioning that the live-action show was being developed as a 10-episode series to start, with a pilot and a show...
This, the movie seems to be positing, is a bad thing, one that might see the dinosaurs move to displace man from its place on the top of the evolutionary food chain. “Humans and dinosaurs can’t coexist!” Laura Dern’s returning Dr. Ellie Sattler explains in a voiceover, amidst shots of T-rexes running wild. “We’re racing towards the extinction of our species” adds Jeff Goldblum’s Dr. Ian Malcolm in a subsequent shot.
Ignoring the fact that having dinosaurs running around everywhere would be,...
An orange downvote button? Sure, nothing like Reddit. | Image: Twitter
If you’ve seen the option to downvote replies on Twitter, you’re not alone. The experimental feature, which Twitter started testing last year, is now being shown to a global audience, says the company.
The option to downvote was initially given to a select group of web users, but Twitter says it will soon be expanding the feature to iOS and Android users as well. Unlike on sites like Reddit, total tallies for upvotes and downvotes aren’t public, but are being used by Twitter behind the scenes to tweak what replies it shows users.
Twitter’s downvote tallies are private
The company said results of the experiment so far found that users downvoted replies they found offensive or irrelevant. “This experiment also revealed that downvoting is...
A YouTuber and former Olympic snowboarder has been accused of crashing his plane on purpose for clicks, and the FAA has opened an investigation to get to the bottom of the growing mess.
Trevor Jacob has been the subject of online criticism after posting a YouTube video where he parachuted from a Taylorcraft BL64 plane and filmed it crashing into the hills of the Los Padres National Forest near Cuyama, California. The video outlined his newly-purchased Taylorcraft's final flight on Nov. 24, 2021, a trip from the Lompoc City Airport in Santa Barbara to Mammoth Lakes where he planned to partake in some general adventuring like paragliding and snowboarding. Jacob also mentioned that he would be spreading the ashes of his friend Johnny Strange during the flight. Strange was killed in a wingsuit accident in 2015 and Jacob explains that he loved the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
During the flight, however, the Taylorcraft's engine supposedly lost power, stalled, and could not be restarted. Jacob then points the plane nose-down and exits, sending the unoccupied aircraft into the ground.
Jacob continued to film himself as he descended and proclaimed, "This is why I always fly with a parachute." He then trekked back to the wreckage and hiked until a farmer, who he credits with saving his life, found him in the darkness.
This is where things started to go south.
The video of the incident was posted to YouTube where it immediately began racking up views. The aviation sector of YouTube wasted no time picking apart Jacob's claims. At the time of writing, the video has reached over one million views. It also amassed more than 5,000 comments, many of which called out the crash as being staged. Comments on the video have since been turned off, but that hasn't stopped people from making reaction and explainer videos that point out abnormalities in the pilot's videos. It’s worth noting here that some suspect the video currently on Jacob’s YouTube to be a trimmed-down version of what was originally uploaded. However, a few of the segments can be found when looking at other videos uploaded by YouTubers critiquing the pilot’s handling of the situation.
For starters, the comment about Jacob always wearing a parachute was identified as misleading. Several YouTubers reviewed the limited number of flying videos that Jacob posted and noted that they could not locate another video of the former Olympic athlete wearing a parachute when flying, let alone a sport parachute like what was worn in the video. It's worth noting that many pilots of small general aviation aircraft do not fly with parachutes, as cabin space is very limited. However, to Jacob's credit, he can be seen wearing the same chute harness in an Instagram photo from September.
Another video points out that when Jacob jumped from the plane, what appear to be two fire extinguishers were strapped to his legs. Again, an atypical sight.
There were other weird items picked from the video, like a disconnected fuel selector valve, and the instrument-facing camera which is turned off just before the engine issue occurs. Commenters also point out that his microphone isn't plugged in, that he appears to be acting poorly, and that he had no reason to hike back to his plane if it didn't have emergency supplies. These are all speculative, and while they don't prove that Jacob was acting in bad faith, they are legitimate concerns. Global Air points out that Jacob only received his pilot's license in mid-2020, so are these rookie mistakes, or not-so-meticulously planned moves? That's for the Federal Aviation Administration to decide.
Aviation YouTuber Trent Palmer dissected the situation in a video of his own. The upload points out that another one of Jacob's planes was supposedly seen circling the crash site days prior on FlightAware, a flight tracker which records the real-time and historic paths taken by a plane and makes it searchable via the aircraft's tail number.
Perhaps just as intriguing is that the Taylorcraft BL64 was purchased about a month prior to the accident. Jacob is quoted as telling the previous owner that he was going to "do something special" with the plane, but didn't elaborate.
The FAA has launched an investigation into the crash, as confirmed by AVWeb.
The Santa Barbara Independent spoke with individuals at the Lompoc airport who claimed it didn't seem that Jacob intended to make a complete flight to Mammoth as he claimed. The aircraft was said to be in a state of "disrepair" and in need of maintenance, which Jacob reportedly struggled to complete himself. Several days after the crash, Jacob returned to the airport and was informed that he needed to file a report to the FAA. Jacob then reportedly chartered a helicopter to remove the wrecked plane and transported it to an unknown location.
My calls to the Lompoc airport to confirm this information were not returned at the time of writing, and the FAA does not comment on individual investigations.
Bob Perry, a local flight instructor at a Santa Ynez Airport, told the Independent that Jacob's claims are "all very suspect." Perry believes that the claims of there being "no safe place" to land the Taylorcraft were misrepresented, as the plane could have cruised at least 15 or 20 miles given the conditions.
If Nov. 24 rings a familiar bell in your head, that's the same day that D.B. Cooper famously jumped from a hijacked plane with $200,000 in ransom 50 years prior.
via YouTube | Trevor Jacob
Whether or not Jacob will be prosecuted for the crash, or if he will have his pilot's license revoked, will take some time to play out. The FAA is notoriously thorough in investigating matters like these and often takes a year or longer to produce a final report and recommendation. But most importantly, if the FAA does decide he's guilty, it must prove that Jacob showed intent to break the law and federal aviation regulations.
Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: rob@thedrive.com
Enlarge / Rhys Darby stars as gentleman pirate Stede Bonnet in the upcoming HBO Max comedy series Our Flag Means Death. (credit: YouTube/HBO Max)
It's no secret that Ars staffers are big Taika Waititi fans. He always brings his distinctly quirky sensibility to his projects, from What We Do in the Shadows, Wellington Paranormal, and Hunt for the Wilderpeople, to JoJo Rabbit, Reservation Dogs, and Thor: Ragnarok. After filming wrapped on Thor: Love and Thunder last year, Waititi somehow found time to develop a new period comedy series for HBO Max.
It's called Our Flag Means Death, and HBO just dropped the first teaser. The series is about an aristocrat who abandons his comfy life to become a "gentleman pirate." Even better: the main character, Stede Bonnet (played by Rhys Darby), is based on a real person who sailed with the infamous 18th-century pirate Blackbeard (played by Waititi in the series).
The real Stede Bonnet was born on the island of Barbados in 1688 to a wealthy English family and inherited a 400-acre estate when his father died in 1694. By some accounts, he was a bookish sort, and his early life was unremarkable. He married, fathered three sons and a daughter, and briefly served in the military as a major, although there is no record that he engaged in active combat.
The Gävle Goat before and after its most recent arson attack this year. | Photo by MATS ASTRAND,PERNILLA WAHLMAN/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images
If you’ve never heard of the Gävle Goat before, there are just two critical pieces of information you need to know.
First: the Gävle Goat is a giant straw statue of a goat erected every Christmas in the Swedish town of Gävle. It’s essentially a massive Yule Goat, a traditional symbol of the Yuletide season in areas of Scandinavia and Northern Europe, and was first installed in the town in 1966. The most recent incarnation stands 42 feet high and weighs 3.6 tonnes.
Second: every year, someone tries to set the goat on fire. And most years, they succeed — including this one.
As the BBC reported this morning: “A giant straw goat that has become an annual highlight in the Swedish city of Gavle has been burned by an arsonist. A man in his 40s...
The U.S. Navy's San Antonio class amphibious transport dock ship USS Portland engaged a static surface training target with its laser directed energy weapon in the Gulf of Aden yesterday. This ship received this weapon, which is officially called the Laser Weapon System Demonstrator Mk 2 Mod 0, in late 2019, which The War Zone was first to report, and subsequently used it to knock down a small drone in a demonstration in the Pacific Ocean the following year.
Portland is presently in the Middle East as part of the Essex Amphibious Ready Group, which also includes the Wasp class amphibious assault ship USS Essex and the Harpers Ferry class dock landing ship USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52). Elements of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) are embarked across all three of those ships.
USN
A view from onboard the USS Portland during the demonstration of its Laser Weapon System Demonstrator (LWSD) Mk 2 Mod 0 in the Gulf of Aden on Dec. 14, 2021.
The U.S. Navy described Portland's laser as having "engaged" the raft-like floating target during the demonstration. It is unclear how much physical damage the directed energy weapon actually did to the target or whether it was considered destroyed as a result. The maximum effective range of the laser is unknown, but the images from this latest test do make clear that the beam can hit targets at a not insignificant distance away from the ship.
USN
A low-quality view of the static, raft-like target that USS Portland engaged with its laser during the demonstration the Gulf of Aden.
"The LWSD [Laser Weapon System Demonstrator] is considered a next-generation follow-on to the Laser Weapon System (LaWS) that afloat forward staging base USS Ponce (AFSB(I)-15) tested for three years while operating in the Middle East," according to a Navy release on the demonstration in the Gulf of Aden. "The region's geography, climate, and strategic importance offer a unique environment for technology innovation."
USN
A view of the LWSD Mk 2 Mod 0 on USS Portland's bow.
The LWSD Mk 2 Mod 0, which Northrop Grumman developed for the Navy as part of the Solid-State Laser Technology Maturation (SSL-TM) program, is a 150-kilowatt class laser weapon. The War Zone was first to identify the system after it appeared in San Diego back in 2019.
It is designed primarily as a close-in defense system to help protect ships against unmanned aircraft and small boat swarms. It can also be employed as a dazzler to blind optical sensors and seeker systems, as well as function as a surveillance system leveraging the integral full-motion video cameras it otherwise uses to detect and track targets for the laser.
The video below is from the demonstration of USS Portland's laser in the Pacific in 2020.
As the Navy itself noted, this is not the first time it has deployed a ship to the region with an operational laser weapon. However, the LWSD Mk 2 Mod 0 is significantly more powerful than the 30-kilowatt class AN/SEQ-3 LaWS that was installed on Ponce. The AN/SEQ-3, along with the earlier 15-kilowatt class Maritime Laser Demonstrator (MLD), both of which were also developed by Northrop Grumman, were stepping stones to the design currently fitted on Portland.
It makes good sense for the Navy to have now deployed Portland to the Middle East and demonstrated the LWSD Mk 2 Mod in the region. The Gulf of Aden, situated between Yemen and Somalia, is a higher-risk area for drone and small watercraft attacks launched by Yemeni Houthi militants. For the size of the group, the Iranian-backed Houthis have an impressive arsenal of unmanned aircraft, including various types of so-called "suicide drones," and remote-controlled explosive-laden small boats, along with cruise and ballistic missiles, naval mines, and other capabilities. The Houthis have targeted U.S. Navy vessels, among others, in the past.
Other Iranian proxies, and Iran itself, operate various kinds of small drones, including armed types, in the region. Iranian forces have been blamed for a number of suicide drone attacks on commercial ships tied to Israel just this year. This includes an attack on the Liberian-flagged, Israeli-operated tanker M/T Mercer Street in the Gulf of Oman in July, which killed one British and one Romanian national.
These are exactly the kinds of threats that the LWSD Mk 2 Mod 0 is intended to help protect against and underscores why the Navy is interested in adding directed energy weapons to various ships. The particular design on Portland is just one of a number of directed energy weapons the Navy has in various stages of testing and development.
A handful of Arleigh Burke class destroyers, including the USS Dewey and USS Stockdale, are now equipped with the Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy (ODIN), which as the name implies is primarily a dazzler. The USS Preble, another ship of that class, is set to become the first to carry the High-Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance, or HELIOS, a Lockheed Martin design expected to have somewhat capabilities similar to those of the LWSD Mk 2 Mod 0. The first HELIOS system delivered to the Navy has been undergoing tests this year on land at Wallops Island in Virginia.
The Navy’s already plans to integrate more laser weapons of various types onto additional ships in the coming years. Beyond being a test of the weapon itself, Portland’s firing of the LWSD Mk 2 Mod 0 in the Gulf of Aden is a clear demonstration of the service’s progress toward a new directed-energy future.
USN
Members of USS Portland's crew wearing protective eyewear observe the demonstration of the ship's laser in the Gulf of Aden.
Instagram is working on a chronological feed | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
During a hearing before a Senate subcommittee on Wednesday, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said the company is working on a version of its feed that would show users' posts in chronological order, unlike its current ranking algorithm that sorts posts based on user preferences.
The company’s algorithmically sorted feed, introduced in 2016, and then updated in 2017 to include recommended posts, is widely disliked by users who prefer to have their posts and their friends’ posts surface in a timely manner. The current feed uses AI to create what Instagram considers a more personalized feed, based on users’ activity. But it has remained generally unpopular among a vast swath of users, despite the company’s assertions otherwise.
Enlarge / Technology that can track stolen property can also be used to track property to steal. (credit: Getty Images)
When Apple debuted its new AirTag tracker earlier this year, part of our review focused on the privacy implications of the device. We called the device "a rare privacy misstep from Apple." This week, Canadian police announced that car thieves have been using AirTags to track vehicles they want to steal.
York Regional Police (which serves an area north of Toronto) revealed that it has investigated five incidents in the past three months in which thieves have hidden AirTags on vehicles parked in public. Later, the thieves tracked down their targets to steal the cars at their leisure.
Other Bluetooth-based trackers have been available for some time now, but the ubiquity of Apple devices (which communicate with AirTags via Apple's Find My app) means it's generally faster and more accurate to track something remotely via an AirTag than a rival device like a Tile. And while they undoubtedly make it easier for users to recover lost stuff, the tags are being exploited by criminals.
NBA Top Shot moments are one of the most high-profile NFT successes so far, part of the initial early hype wave for the blockchain-based art that’s become one of the biggest buzzwords of 2021. And thanks to a new partnership with Infinite Objects, Top Shot owners will soon be able to immortalize their favorite clips in the real world with officially licensed looping video frames from Infinite Objects.
Starting today, Top Shot owners will be able to log into Infinite Object’s portal, connect their Dapper account, view all their currently owned moments, and order a “Video Print” of the clip. Only the owner of an NBA Top Shot moment will be able to buy an Infinite Object frame with the associated video clip on it, and each frame will come...
Phileas Fogg (David Tennant), Abigail Fix (Leonie Benesch), and Jean Passepartout (Ibrahim Koma) set out on the adventure of a lifetime in a new TV adaptation of Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days The series debuts January 2, 2022.
Jules Verne's 1873 novel, Around the World in Eighty Days, inspired numerous real-life attempts to navigate the globe, as well as various film, TV, and radio adaptations of varying success. The latest TV adaption by the BBC stars a perfectly cast David Tennant as the globe-trotting adventurer Phileas Fogg, and judging from the preview, it looks like a particular entertaining way to kick of the new year.
(Spoilers for the 1873 Jules Verne novel below.)
Fogg is the novel's main protagonist, a gentleman of modest fortune who gets into an argument with his pals at the Reform Club over a newspaper article about the opening of a new railway section in India,. The article claims this makes it possible to circumnavigate the world in 80 days. Fogg's colleagues are skeptical, so he makes a wager that he can accomplish the feat. It's a significant wager, too, amounting to half of Fogg's fortune, with the other half required to finance his journey. If he doesn't succeed, he will be ruined. Fogg takes his new valet, Passepartout, with him, departing London by train. Complicating matters is a Scotland Yard detective named Fix, who mistakes Fogg for a fugitive bank robber and tracks the pair throughout their travels.
The Cumbre Vieja volcano has now been erupting for more than two months, continuing to generate lava flows and earthquakes on the Spanish island of La Palma. It has also been spewing millions of cubic meters of volcanic ash into the air, and as the ash falls, it blankets the nearby landscape. The ash can fall like hail or drift like dust, and it piles up and drifts in the wind, covering houses, farms, and forests. Some removal work has taken place, to clear roads and ease the strain on sagging rooftops, but more ash continues to fall. The following photographs from La Palma show what some of the volcano’s neighbors have been coping with over the past few weeks.
A house is covered by ash from the Cumbre Vieja volcano as it continues to erupt on La Palma, one of Spain's Canary Islands, on October 30, 2021.
(
Emilio Morenatti / AP)
You may recall earlier this year when Hyundai introduced an EV restomod of its Pony hatchback — the brand’s first mass-produced car as well as its first exported out of South Korea. With its recognizably Giugiaro wedge silhouette, the Pony was the perfect candidate for Hyundai to gut and electrify, in a cyberpunk sort…
Taika Waititi is set to co-write and direct an adaptation of The Incal, the sci-fi graphic novel from writer Alejandro Jodorowsky with art by Jean Giraud, better known as Moebius, according to a report from The Hollywood Reporter.
Jodorowsky’s name has been a popular one in Hollywood recently due to the release of the latest incarnation of Dune earlier this year. Jodorowsky was famously working on a surreal and bizarre adaptation of the novel (alongside Moebius and H.R. Giger), but unfortunately was never able to get any major studios to take the risk on his idea. The journey of that process has since been the subject of its own documentary, Jodorowsky’s Dune.
The Incal is also just the first work in a series of connected comics that...
Starring Tom Holland as an incongruously young version of fortune hunter / adventurer / general human punching bag Nathan Drake, Uncharted is set long before the popular video game series, winding the clock back before Drake was a seasoned Indiana Jones knockoff to the start of his career.
It is kind of hard to shake how young Holland looks here compared to his more grizzled video game counterpart, along with what appears to be an identical American accent to his Spider-Man voice in the Marvel films. But Sony will have plenty of time to convince fans to...
Legendary video game designer Hideo Kojima has collaborated with French eyewear specialist Jean-François Rey to produce a limited-edition quartet of shades, specs, and a 3D-printed mask. The capsule collection is available to preorder now for unknown prices, with delivery slated for March 2022.
The designs were apparently inspired by the look and feel of Kojima’s Death Stranding (not the first time that particular game has led to high-fashion collaborations), but I feel they would fit happily into a number of Kojima’s near-contemporary or futuristic game worlds. Perhaps they’d even adorn the face of one the many wonderfully-named Metal Gear Solid characters. May we suggest: Cool Glassesman. (It’s no worse than Hot Coldman.)
Was 2021 a great year? Not exactly! But we did have some posts that got a lot of attention. Take a walk down memory lane with us, as we think back on 2021, a year that will seem much better by this time in 2022.
Another day on the Internet, and another funny video pops up, inviting you to chuckle at the misfortune of others. In this case, it's a compilation video of drivers tackling the Rufford Lane Ford, a water crossing in North Nottinghamshire, England. This isn't a flooded street—instead, it's one of a number of rural roads in England that run directly into and across small streams and rivers, which is evidently what happens when people decide it's too much of a bother to build a bridge. As you might expect, things go poorly for the intrepid drivers that plow on through the waterway.
As seen in the video, several drivers elect to cross the water course at almost a foot deep. Some make it through unscathed; a Tesla Model S has no problems, and a Mercedes G-Wagen and Ford Focus also succeed, among others.
However, the video shows a near-equal number of failures. Perhaps the hardest hit casualty is a Nissan 370Z seen spewing steam from its exhaust, a sure sign of water ingestion into the engine. Some cars barely make it out of the water before conking out and needing rescue. It doesn't take much water getting into the airbox to hydrolock an engine and cause terminal damage as the pistons try to compress incompressible water. Additionally, electrical systems damaged by the water are also likely to halt a modern vehicle.
Fords are common in the United Kingdom, where many rivers and canals snake their way around the countryside. A ford is a cheaper way of creating a river crossing, and can carry far more weight more easily. They're a useful solution for minor roads where it is convenient to be able to cross the river when water levels are low.
In the case of Rufford Lane, an four-mile detour is always available so drivers can go around if the water is too deep. That's according to the BBC, who explored why so many people get caught in fords and flood waters in the UK. General manager of nearby wedding venue Rufford Mill, Andrew Cox, notes that "For much of the year, the ford is just a couple of inches deep so it presents no problem whatsoever." However, the waterway can get as deep as five feet during periods of heavy run-off, becoming impassable.
YouTube/BENGREGERS
A common scene in Rufford Lane.
The problem is often with the drivers, rather than the fords themselves. Most fords feature a marker that indicates the depth of the water crossing. Experienced drivers will know the capabilities of their vehicle and the relevant safe wading depth. Inexperienced drivers without this knowledge can do nothing with this information, and often plow on ahead into foot-deep water or worse. At these levels, many vehicles may float or ingest water into the engine, causing terminal damage.
Driving style is also a factor. Getting the pace right through a water crossing is important. Some momentum is good to keep the car moving and to push a bow wave ahead of the vehicle. However, too much speed can throw up water over the bonnet and increase the likelihood of it getting sucked into the engine. Without a snorkel, wading a car through deep water often ends in disaster.
Indeed, other videos shot at Rufford Lane show that perhaps better signage or more driver education is needed. The second video in the series from YouTuber BENGREGERS shows drivers of vans and SUVs attempting to cross with the water level sitting at almost 3 feet deep. Several end up floating, while others die shortly down the road as their engines choke on river water. The Drive would like to suggest a helpful rhyme for these cases—"If it's more than ankle deep, repairs won't be cheap."
Watching cars die at the ford seems to be a spectator sport in Nottinghamshire, and in fairness, it does seem like a fun way to spend a cold afternoon. It's reminiscent of the antics we've seen at the famous "11 foot 8" bridge over in North Carolina. As long as nobody's getting hurt, it can be amusing to watch a few vehicular fails now and then.
Got a tip? Let the author know: lewin@thedrive.com
