Amazon Prime Air

[ApK]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Neither were ebooks.....

I have no idea what that means. ebooks were predicted decades before they appeared and no one was surprised by them.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ApK

I have no idea what that means. ebooks were predicted decades before they appeared and no one was surprised by them.

Ebooks have been around for decades. I've been reading them since the mid '80s.

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by pl001

That was my initial thought as well. Kind of like flying cars, which I was supposed to be driving today, at least according to the magazines of my childhood.

'
Flying cars are already available in the US. One needs a pilot's license and a parking spot at an airfield. The wings fold into the car when driving on a highway. One must drive to an airfield to take off and then land at an airfield.

Here is a link to the tests 18 months ago:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/american...n-test-flight/

I believe US auto dealers are selling them NOW.

Only a few US states allow them. They run for $ 300,000 and self driving cars run for $ 150,000. The car I own runs on VOICE COMMANDS and it took me 3 weeks to learn how to work it. Passengers are not allowed to talk or the car could become confused.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Ebooks have been around for decades. I've been reading them since the mid '80s.

And they were predicted decades before that. Maybe centuries...can't recall if Verne or Wells had written about them, but Asimov and Clarke certainly had in the 50s and 60s.

In any case, when we first started reading texts on our terminals, Vic 20s, Palm Pilots, or what have you, I doubt many people saw it for the first time and said "This must be a joke, this can't be real yet!" So I don't get Kenny's comment.

[sirmaru]

The first eBooks I've read were from Microsoft in about 1990. Then Adobe tried to compete but Microsoft had the market.

Then in about 2007 I purchased a Sony PRS 505 and that was even better for eBooks until about 2009 when I purchased that Kindle Keyboard now to be given away as a Christmas present to someone who never heard of eBooks.

This year's Kindle Fire HDX 2013 can be used to make a video connection to customer support in seconds. Next year's Kindle Fire HDXY 2014 will probably be able to order Amazon Prime Air deliveries in minutes from the nearest service center.

Thus, Amazon can afford to sell Kindles at cost since the customer is ordering thousands of other products where the profits are being made using those Kindles.

[speakingtohe]

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/fl...fty-price-tag/

Originally Posted by pl001

That was my initial thought as well. Kind of like flying cars, which I was supposed to be driving today, at least according to the magazines of my childhood.

I saw a video of this on CBC I think several years ago.
http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/fl...fty-price-tag/

Helen

[MikeB1972]

Well, Waterstones have already come up with an environmentally friendly alternative

http://www.waterstones.com/blog/2013...ucing-o-w-l-s/

[usuallee]

Forget drones, I'll just wait for the Amazon Prime personal teleportation device. Get products INSTANTLY. Free returns. Scheduled to start beta testing in early 2016....

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by ApK

I have no idea what that means. ebooks were predicted decades before they appeared and no one was surprised by them.

Of course you don't.

Neither was the printing press.....

[ApK]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Of course you don't.

Neither was the printing press.....

No soap, radio!

[AnemicOak]

Before pursuing the drone route Amazon tried a few other methods for Prime Air, but the results weren't too good.

[fjtorres]

I have my doubts but they are regulatory in nature, not technology-wise.
Which is why I expect the ongoing Chinese tests will move faster than the Aussie campus-wide effort of Amazon's city-wide experiments.
The technology today may be limited to a kilometer or two radius but battery tech is improving regularly, with several bleeding edge technologies offering the promise of a tenfold energy density increase. Likewise, materials science and additive manufacturing can probably cut the weight of the frame a bit. I figure a 10-20 kilometer radius should be doable fairly soon.
Given the proper regulatory support, the traffic-choked cities like Manhattan, London, Tokyo, Rio, and the bigger Chinese cities would be naturals for high-value urgent deliveries, the kind of stuff that is typically messengered around. I could see computer components and software making a good portion of a potential Amazon 1 hour delivery system.
Economically, it could work as a corporate subscription service since most major major businesses have loading docks suitable for microcomputer drop-off.
Don't forget, Amazon isn't just for consumers: they do a lot of business in the corporate arena.
Don't discount it; the tech is being explored on three continents, so far, and that's because there is a place for them.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Before pursuing the drone route Amazon tried a few other methods for Prime Air, but the results weren't too good.

I recognize the first one; it is in regular use by the US Department of Education.
They usually load it up with bags of Susan B. Dollar coins.

[sirmaru]

In that same "60 Minutes" program Jeff Bezos said he provides computer services for the CIA. Thus, he probably has lots of experts on drones on his staff.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The device shown in the video is an "octocopter", similar to this one:

http://www.steadidrone.eu/octocopter-ei8ht/

Big problem: flight time is around 10-15 minutes maximum, and it has to get there and back again in that time. So unless you live within a few hundred metres of your nearest Amazon depot, you're going to be out of luck...

Hard to say. I've read of hobbyists who have modified Octocopters to get about 45 min flight time.

Then there are drones like the MD4-1000 from microdrones which gets up to 88 min. Not quite the same as the one in the Amazon video, but still...

If one could develop a drone which could glide for part of it's flight then flight time could be extended quite a bit.

Originally Posted by sirmaru

In that same "60 Minutes" program Jeff Bezos said he provides computer services for the CIA. Thus, he probably has lots of experts on drones on his staff.

I'm sure he's got lots of expert drones if not experts on drones.