4 ms·

Sadly the article just quotes a Verge article (http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/3/5169878/ups-is-researching-its-own-delivery-drones-to-compete-with-amazons http

Sadly the article just quotes a Verge article (http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/3/5169878/ups-is-researching-its-own-delivery-drones-to-compete-with-amazons http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/3/5169878/ups-is-researching...) which itself just quotes some anonymous people at UPS, and then has a couple of people's reactions to the rumors. So not very interesting. I guess the Techcrunch article adds some predictable jokes and a meme illustration, leaving us to ponder the idea of what our grandparents would think about this article--premise, illustration, and all. Or better yet, the idea of our grandparents being shown this article in 1963 by some future-man. The notion of a future flying delivery robot would have been passe--it's the illustration that would have blown their minds.

pit 13y ago
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blisterpeanuts 13y ago
UPS also now appears to be interested in replacing its reliable army of brown-shorted carriers with repurposed evil mindless deathbots. This is one of the reasons I avoid TechCrunch, which appears to be a sensationalist/gossip-mongering type of opinion platform pandering to teenagers, rather than a true tech news organization. Previously they had an article on what they called the uselessness of near-field communication (NFC) devices, even to the point of redefining the initials as "Nobody F--king Cares" (my obfuscation, not theirs). Really? I do care.
- esrauch 13y ago
  To be fair, no one else cares. What percentage of those NFC supporting services do you think have ever used it? I would be surprised if it was even 1%.
  - blisterpeanuts 13y ago
    Probably. But for vertical market and internal applications (building access, inventory control, time tracking), NFC is getting a lot of attention. I suspect it won't achieve a mass market for a few years, if ever, given Apple's utter lack of interest and lack of a killer application. Plus, QR codes are cheaper to use, albeit read-only.
    - esrauch 13y ago
      I wouldn't exactly hold up QR codes as a successful technology either, in the US at least.

pit 13y ago

Welcome to ad-supported content!

blisterpeanuts 13y ago

UPS also now appears to be interested in replacing its reliable army of brown-shorted carriers with repurposed evil mindless deathbots. This is one of the reasons I avoid TechCrunch, which appears to be a sensationalist/gossip-mongering type of opinion platform pandering to teenagers, rather than a true tech news organization. Previously they had an article on what they called the uselessness of near-field communication (NFC) devices, even to the point of redefining the initials as "Nobody F--king Cares" (my obfuscation, not theirs). Really? I do care.

esrauch 13y ago
To be fair, no one else cares. What percentage of those NFC supporting services do you think have ever used it? I would be surprised if it was even 1%.
- blisterpeanuts 13y ago
  Probably. But for vertical market and internal applications (building access, inventory control, time tracking), NFC is getting a lot of attention. I suspect it won't achieve a mass market for a few years, if ever, given Apple's utter lack of interest and lack of a killer application. Plus, QR codes are cheaper to use, albeit read-only.
  - esrauch 13y ago
    I wouldn't exactly hold up QR codes as a successful technology either, in the US at least.