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Given the ubiquity of sophisticated cell phones and other recording equipment, it's best to regard the lack of a recording as strong evidence that it does not e

Given the ubiquity of sophisticated cell phones and other recording equipment, it's best to regard the lack of a recording as strong evidence that it does not exist. Just as if multiple people claimed the Loch Ness Monster had surfaced in San Francisco Bay but somehow there were no photographs of it.

aw3c2 11y ago
It is incredibly hard to record silent noises with standard equipment.
21 11y ago
Cell phones have shitty mics (because physics). You would need a condenser microphone for low level noises. Around $100. TV camera crews have them, not even one stood around waiting for the sounds?
- seanp2k2 11y ago
  Even better, hang it from a 20' cable below a drone and fly it over. Stream the audio back in case they somehow manage to disable the drone. I'm sure lots of people in the Bay Area have the equipment right now to do this, just a matter of if anyone cares.
  - nitrogen 11y ago
    You'd need a good wind blocker on the mic, and you'd get a lot of drag from the 20' cable, but this seems doable.
    - fabulist 11y ago
      Pardon my ignorance, but is it really feasible for a drone to carry a 20 foot cable with a mic? Wouldn't it drag pretty far behind the drone, making it unwieldy? Wouldn't you need 20 additional feet of clearance to avoid obstacles? There aren't a lot of tall buildings in Sunnyvale, but there are birds and other drones in the sky.
      - nitrogen 11y ago
        I think this thread is a bit pie in the sky and a bit of "just for fun" impracticality, but I do think one of the bigger octo drones, carefully piloted, could pull it off.
        fabulist 11y ago
        Ah, drones seem so magical and powerful to me that I didn't pick up on it :)
        seanp2k2 11y ago
        Remote-activated cable reel. Roll it up and get into position, then lower the skyhook. Pack it back up and fly off into the sunset! Now I want to do this. Yes you'd need a big wind screen (they make those and they're not crazy expensive) and a fairly large drone to deal with the extra weight of a condenser mic + XLR cable + 48v phantom power circuit + any reel mechanism, but considering the payload capacities of current drones in the 1-2kg range for a DJI Phantom 2 ( http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/flying-at-high-density-altitude.47132/#post-455124 http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/flying-at-high-density-... ), it would require some engineering (and maybe removing the mic from the heavy casing or finding a really light mic), but definitely not impossible or even very challenging to do with off-the-shelf stuff and a bit of diddling.
  - tlrobinson 11y ago
    In a few years we'll just have autonomous micro-drones flying directly into Apple's secret buildings streaming video back.
    - joshfraser 11y ago
      a few years? who's to say it's not already happening?
  - camillomiller 11y ago
    Why not a video drone ?

aw3c2 11y ago

It is incredibly hard to record silent noises with standard equipment.

21 11y ago

Cell phones have shitty mics (because physics). You would need a condenser microphone for low level noises. Around $100. TV camera crews have them, not even one stood around waiting for the sounds?

seanp2k2 11y ago
Even better, hang it from a 20' cable below a drone and fly it over. Stream the audio back in case they somehow manage to disable the drone. I'm sure lots of people in the Bay Area have the equipment right now to do this, just a matter of if anyone cares.
- nitrogen 11y ago
  You'd need a good wind blocker on the mic, and you'd get a lot of drag from the 20' cable, but this seems doable.
  - fabulist 11y ago
    Pardon my ignorance, but is it really feasible for a drone to carry a 20 foot cable with a mic? Wouldn't it drag pretty far behind the drone, making it unwieldy? Wouldn't you need 20 additional feet of clearance to avoid obstacles? There aren't a lot of tall buildings in Sunnyvale, but there are birds and other drones in the sky.
    - nitrogen 11y ago
      I think this thread is a bit pie in the sky and a bit of "just for fun" impracticality, but I do think one of the bigger octo drones, carefully piloted, could pull it off.
      - fabulist 11y ago
        Ah, drones seem so magical and powerful to me that I didn't pick up on it :)
      - seanp2k2 11y ago
        Remote-activated cable reel. Roll it up and get into position, then lower the skyhook. Pack it back up and fly off into the sunset! Now I want to do this. Yes you'd need a big wind screen (they make those and they're not crazy expensive) and a fairly large drone to deal with the extra weight of a condenser mic + XLR cable + 48v phantom power circuit + any reel mechanism, but considering the payload capacities of current drones in the 1-2kg range for a DJI Phantom 2 ( http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/flying-at-high-density-altitude.47132/#post-455124 http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/flying-at-high-density-... ), it would require some engineering (and maybe removing the mic from the heavy casing or finding a really light mic), but definitely not impossible or even very challenging to do with off-the-shelf stuff and a bit of diddling.
- tlrobinson 11y ago
  In a few years we'll just have autonomous micro-drones flying directly into Apple's secret buildings streaming video back.
  - joshfraser 11y ago
    a few years? who's to say it's not already happening?
- camillomiller 11y ago
  Why not a video drone ?