“You’re going to Napa in your Cessna? Me too! If you let me hop in, I’ll pay my share of the gas!” That arrangement is legal, but the FAA has declared that connecting brave passengers with amateur pilots for a fee is definitely verboten. The ruling came from a request for clarification by a company called Airpooler , a small plane equivalent of UberX . That service and others like FlyteNow let private pilots post listings for flight dates and destinations, along with a corresponding fee. Thanks to a 1963 decision, such sharing is legal if done by word of mouth or a notice board, provided the pilot only asks for a fair share of the expenses. However, in a rather confusing letter, the regulator told Airpooler that its service violates the spirit of that ruling. Instead of offering a bonafide “joint venture with a common purpose, ” participating pilots are “holding out to transport passengers for compensation.” That means unless you have a commercial ATP or CPL license, using such a services is DOA. [Credit: Brianc/Flickr] Filed under: Transportation Comments Via: TechCrunch Source: FAA (Scribd.com)

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Pilots banned from acting like Uber drivers in the sky

After eight months of beta testing, the Opera Max web compression app is finally getting a launch partner, and it happens to be in Vietnam. Opera’s joining forces with local carrier Mobiistar to have the app preloaded on select Android devices (Lai504m, Bean414 and Prime508). By way of multimedia content plus text compression, the service claims to save up to 50 percent of data bandwidth — it’s all visualized in the app for your viewing pleasure. For those outside of Vietnam, you can still install the beta app and try it out in the US, Europe, Brazil and Russia; or try the customized version of Opera Max if you’re in China. Filed under: Cellphones , Mobile Comments

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Opera’s web compression app can now save you some Vietnamese dong

Square’s grand plan to democratize credit card payments has inspired a clutch of imitators , the latest of which is Amazon . The company has just announced Amazon Local Register, a credit card reader and app combination that’ll enable small businesses to take payments they wouldn’t otherwise get, as long as they have a smartphone or tablet lying around. The retailer is savagely undercutting both Square and PayPal Here, offering a flat charge of 1.75 percent per payment until the start of 2016, a full percent lower than the 2.75 and 2.7 percent asked by the other two. On January 2nd, however, the fee rises to 2.5 percent, a smaller yet still significant cut compared to Amazon’s rivals in the space. The gear’s available for Android, iOS and the company’s own Fire devices, priced at $10, and there’s even a business bundle for $380 that’ll include a Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 — which we figure is a whole lot cheaper than trying to install a cash register in your taco truck. Filed under: Cellphones , Tablets , Internet , Amazon Comments Source: Amazon Local Register , (2) , (3)

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Amazon undercuts Square and PayPal with its own mobile card reader

If you plan to stay in Cupertino’s high-tech Aloft Hotel in the near future, don’t be surprised if you open your door to a 3-foot-tall robot carrying extra towels or breakfast. See, it’s the Starwood property’s new butler (officially called A.L.O. Botlr, which is short for “robot butler, ” of course) programmed to assist the hotel’s concierge in catering to your requests. The 100-pound machine comes loaded with a 7-inch tablet screen to interact with guests and staff, as well as 4G and WiFi connections so it can call elevators when it needs a ride. Let’s say you pinged front desk to ask for new toiletries — the staff then just loads the items (as long as they don’t exceed two pounds) in an empty compartment on top of the robot and inputs your floor and room number on the tablet interface. You’ll know Botlr’s lurking outside the door when it calls up the room’s phone, and instead of a crisp $20 bill, all it asks in return is a tweet with the #meetbotlr hashtag. The A.L.O. Botlr is actually a repainted, bow-tie-wearing version of a robot called SaviOne developed by California startup Savioke. It’s a new company, but it’s backed by Google Ventures and led by Steve Cousins, the former CEO of Willow Garage , which you might recognize as the developer of the PR2 experimental robot . In fact, the PR2 looks similar to Botlr, but the latter (like Softbank’s Pepper ) was designed to look a lot more approachable so as not to scare hotel guests. Also, the newer machine lacks the PR2’s limbs, which means: 1.) it’s incapable of doing tasks that requires the use of hands, and 2.) its a lot cheaper to make, seeing as those limbs are the PR2’s most expensive components. Botlr will make its Aloft Hotel debut on August 20th for a pilot program: if successful, all 100+ Aloft Hotels could have one to two at their disposal. Aloft brand’s senior vice president Brian McGuinness swears, however, that these robots won’t be replacing human employees and will even free them up for other, more important tasks. Sadly, you won’t be seeing Botlr rolling along other hotel chains’ hallways anytime soon. Starwood has an exclusive deal with Savioke until the end of 2014, though the startup plans to open the pilot to other hotels next year. Filed under: Robots Comments Via: CNBC , Mashable , Savioke Source: Aloft Hotel

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California hotel hires robot butlers to provide room service (video)

It didn’t happen overnight, but ViaSat’s finally on its way to transforming the satellite internet space, be it through speedy in-flight WiFi on JetBlue and United or the Exede residential service . That latter product, while the fastest internet option for customers without access to cable or fiber, isn’t without its critics, due in no small part to some rather prohibitive monthly data caps. Well, no more. The company’s new Freedom plan, available beginning August 18th for $70 per month (or $60 when bundled with phone service), delivers “virtually unlimited” access for streaming, web browsing and anything else you might plan to do. Officially, there’s a monthly cap of 150 GB, but ViaSat likely won’t enforce that limit. Of course, Exede still won’t be a fit for downloading terabytes of video or linking up your remote server farm, but if you plan to do some work during the day and stream an HD movie each night, you should be good to go. Filed under: Wireless Comments Source: ViaSat (MarketWatch)

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ViaSat adds ‘virtually unlimited’ Freedom satellite internet plan for $70 per month

When PC gaming juggernaut Valve announced its Steam Machines initiative in Fall 2013, it was unveiled as such: “Entertainment is not a one-size-fits-all world. We want you to be able to choose the hardware that makes sense for you, so we are working with multiple partners to bring a variety of Steam gaming machines to market during 2014, all of them running SteamOS.” Not long after, at CES 2014, Valve revealed a full line of Steam Machines from 14 different companies . Chief among them was Alienware, Dell’s gaming PC arm, which showed a teensy $550 box called the “Alpha.” Alienware was a standout not just due to name recognition, but because the company proposed a launch window for its “game console”. The Alpha won’t ship with any of the promises of the Steam Machines initiative: no Steam OS and no Steam Controller. Valve’s delayed both , but Alienware’s pushing on nonetheless with a fall launch. That’s all to say one thing: While the Alpha is still a “Steam Machine” in size and horsepower, it isn’t a Steam Machine . The Alienware Alpha is a weird gaming PC. Alienware held an event last week in New York City to show off the Alpha. We were given time to play games on the system, sure, but the focus of the event was on the custom operating system that Alienware’s built to get around the fact that Valve’s initiative isn’t ready . According to Alienware, Valve president Gabe Newell sees the Alpha as the “ideal Steam Machine.” It’s hard to see how, at least at the moment: It runs Windows 8.1, it ships with an Xbox 360 wireless gamepad, and it requires a USB-based wireless dongle to make that gamepad function. Alpha is $550 — $50 more than the most expensive new game console — and it’s lacking in the horsepower department. Which GPU is inside? A “custom” NVIDIA Maxwell GTX. How about processing? Handled by an Intel i3. In so many words, the Alpha is roughly as powerful as the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, only it costs more and is nowhere near as accessible. THE ALPHA UI In place of Steam OS, Alienware’s got a custom user interface that allows you to skip the Windows 8 desktop. It’s non-ironically called the “Alpha UI, ” which is fitting given how vacuous it feels. We weren’t actually able to use it; instead, Alienware guided media through a slideshow of its features. Those features are sparse: play games, adjust a small handful of settings, and a button combination that helps players escape the pitfalls of playing PC games. Ever go to play a Ubisoft game, only to have the UPlay dialog box pop up? Not such a big deal if you’re sitting right in front of your computer, keyboard and mouse in-hand, but quite a frustration if you’re playing a PC game using a gamepad from your couch. The Alpha gets around this issue by offering a kill command for offending software. Ever play a Steam game that advertises “partial controller support?” Alienware reps say they’re working with Valve to test every single game and update all those listings. For now, however, workarounds like the kill prompt will have to do. Let’s be clear: the Alpha is a system of workarounds. No Steam OS? Alienware built a bare bones OS to shepherd consumers from a Windows 8 experience to Steam’s living room-friendly Big Picture Mode. No Steam Controller? Alienware’s straight up buying Xbox 360 wireless gamepads and dongles to ship a controller with each Alpha. Unfortunately for Alienware and folks excited for the Alpha, another word for “workaround” is compromise . Alienware says you’ll be able to upgrade to Steam OS and the Steam Controller whenever Valve’s got those ready. For now, though, the Alpha feels undercooked — a rushed product which serves Alienware’s bottom line and little else. We’re reserving full judgement until we’ve got a final unit this November when it ships to customers, but color us worried as of late Summer. Edgar Alvarez contributed to this report. Filed under: Desktops , Gaming , Software , HD , Dell Comments

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Alienware’s ‘Alpha’ is a half-step toward Steam Machines

Verizon has largely finished rolling out its LTE network, but that only raises a new question: when is it going to phase out its long-running CDMA phone service? As it turns out, the transition may start sooner than you think. The carrier’s Fran Shammo has revealed at an investor conference that the first phones to rely solely on LTE for calls will be available in the first half of 2016, or just under two years after the launch of LTE voice service in late 2014. He didn’t say when Big Red would turn the lights out on CDMA, but it’s safe to presume that this won’t happen until the majority of devices in use can handle the newer technology. In short, you shouldn’t worry about buying a Verizon phone today — just don’t expect to keep it for several years. [Image credit: AP Photo/John Minchillo] Filed under: Cellphones , Wireless , Mobile , Verizon Comments

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Verizon’s first phones with LTE-only calling will arrive in 2016

Twitter’s said its active user base is growing , but not every account that’s active is necessary a flesh-and-blood human. Alongside those verified accounts of the stars , there’s all kinds of bots that use the service to deliver completely stupid nonsense , sudden (urgent!) sale news and even earthquake reports — well, some have their uses. Twitter’s now updated its filing, noting that bot accounts total up to 8.5 percent of its active user count at the end of June. That’s roughly 23 million tweeters that aren’t human – and probably aren’t going to be clicking on that ad for Innovative Cloud Storage Solutions any time soon. Filed under: Internet Comments

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Up to 23 million active Twitter accounts are bots

Chances are that if you don’t play Minecraft yourself, you’ve probably at least heard of it or know someone who does. The charming indie game has invaded nearly every facet of pop culture, casting its blocky spell on everything from Legos to feature films and has even been used for tourism . With over 54 million copies sold , Sweden-based developer Mojang made $128 million last year largely thanks to Minecraft and has become one of the most successful game studios in the world. But what actually is Minecraft ? We’re glad you asked! WHAT IS IT? At its core, Minecraft is a massive, open-ended, first-person game with a focus on exploration and crafting. Every time you load a new game, the environment is randomly assembled so no two plays will be exactly alike. Unlike most games, Minecraft offers little in the way of directions, or a campaign/story mode to work through for that matter: It’s a free-form, easygoing affair with the player figuring out what they can and can’t do through trial and error (or by scouring a wiki ). Think something like Grand Theft Auto ‘ s gigantic environment , but instead of attempting a hyper-realistic world, everything is pixelated blocks. Objects in the world are made of gravity-defying, 1 x 1 blocks that can be stacked and manipulated to form just about anything one could imagine, from intricate recreations of Game of Thrones ‘ Westeros , to movie posters, and even Game Boy emulators capable of playing the first level from Super Mario Land . Hell, the Danish government has servers running so would-be tourists can check out a 1:1 recreation of the happiest country replete with highways, houses and landmarks. Minecraft’s official trailer, which now has over 98 million views on YouTube That’s just the tip of the iceberg, though, and we’re sure there are at least a few crazy projects going right now that we don’t even know about. There’s no score, and no real “end” (though that’s up for debate, and we’d be spoiling bits if we got into the argument too deeply here). In the game’s main mode, you start in a world full of resources (rock, wood, etc.) and are “tasked” with making a life for your character (who’s named Steve). A day/night cycle provides constraints: Use the daylight to gather resources and build, with the intent of surviving the night. The Creeper in his natural environment Zombie-like creatures roam the land at night, and the only way to survive is by building housing to keep them out. Should that not provide challenge enough, a green enemy lovingly named the “creeper” lives primarily underground, where you mine for resources. Enter the wrong mining cavern and you may end up suddenly exploded. Any resources you’ve got on your person remain where you died until you can go retrieve them. It’s a delight! The game is available on just about every platform: Android, iOS, Mac, PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with updated versions coming to the PS Vita, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One this year. Minecraft was initially released for free as a work-in-progress back in May 2009 and developed by one person, Markus “Notch” Persson . Since then, numerous updates have been released, with the full release coming about two-and-a-half years later in November 2011. Essentially, the public was playing along as the game was being developed under its very fingertips. WHY SHOULD I CARE? For starters, single-developer games are pretty rare, and ones that are this successful are even more unique. As a result, Notch has become a bit of a celebrity in the gaming community and now has some 1.7 million followers on Twitter. Minecraft ‘s success, however, has had a price. After filing for a trademark for Mojang’s follow-up, Scrolls , publisher Bethesda Softworks (known for the role-playing series The Elder Scrolls, among others), filed a trademark lawsuit over the Swedish developer using the word “scrolls.” It all worked out in the end, but Mojang had to agree to not use the word in in subsequent releases. The city of King’s Landing, from Game of Thrones, recreated entirely in Minecraft Minecraft is also the progenitor of releasing a game to players before it’s done. The concept of PC-gaming platform Steam’s Early Access program practically owes its existence to this, and it isn’t going to stop there either. Sony has admitted that it’s flirting with the idea of releasing unfinished, alpha versions of games on the PS4, too. Notch’s baby has also had a tremendous impact on video games as a whole, creating an entire genre and style of play. Titles like Rust (which also happens to be a Steam Early Access title), Terraria , and the upcoming PS4 stunner No Man’s Sky likely wouldn’t exist had Minecraft not popularized the idea of virtual free-form exploration and building. Even established franchises like Everquest have taken notice, with the next game, Everquest Landmark , taking a few pages out of Minecraft ‘s customization and crafting book. The game is also a blank canvas that can be used for just about anything. Sure, recreations of Great Britain are impressive, but even more so is that it’s been used in the classroom as a teaching tool for proper online behavior and collaborative problem-solving. It’s even been implemented to get kids interested in architecture and civics. A group of kids playing Minecraft Edu at school WHAT’S THE ARGUMENT? Getting access to a game before it’s fully finalized might sound like a great idea on paper, but in practice that’s not always the case. There are numerous games on Steam right now under the Early Access banner that are simply unplayable. Whereas Minecraft was free to start, people are paying for these test-builds (which will convert into the full version if completed) in the hopes that eventually the full release will fix the gamut of glitches they’re encountering. The thing is, that’s placing an awful lot of faith in oftentimes unproven developers to finish a game; there have already been notable disasters delisted from Steam, and there will assuredly be more. WANT EVEN MORE? If you can put the pick-axe down long enough, check out Rolling Stone ‘s recent profile of Notch that chronicles the effects his youth and father’s suicide had on both the way he designs games and him as a person. Should you want even deeper inside the man’s head, Persson also maintains a personal blog . Still not satisfied? How about booking travel to Europe for this year’s Minecon convention ? Better gear up with a Creeper mask and foam diamond-sword ahead of time, though. Or, maybe you haven’t played the game just yet and all of this has gotten you curious to try it out. Well, there’s a super-limited free demo that should give you an idea of what it’s all about before you buy the real deal . [Image credits: Fortunatemend / Imgur ; KJarrett / Flickr ] Filed under: Cellphones , Desktops , Gaming , Handhelds , Home Entertainment , Tablets , Software , HD , Sony , Microsoft Comments

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What you need to know about ‘Minecraft’

The only thing that’s better than using Steam is digging through its source code to see what’s coming in the future. On a recent trawl through the digital store’s inner workings, Twitter’s @SteamDB found the words film, tvseries and music as app types that people could, theoretically, buy. If so, then Valve might be ready to get serious about Steam’s ability to rival other digital storefronts from Google and Apple, which is logical, since Valve’s platform has around 75 million registered users . Of course, these options might be just be tweaks to existing functionality, since game soundtracks and one movie are already available on the service. Hell, it could even be an amendment to the Steam Music Beta, enabling people to binge on locally-stored content while playing — but we’d give props to the person who could enjoy DOTA 2 and Breaking Bad at the same time. [Image credit: @SteamDB] Filed under: Gaming , Internet Comments Via: IGN Source: SteamDB (Twitter)

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Will Steam challenge iTunes and Google Play for your media-buying cash?