According to the Wall Street Journal, Bill Nye’s favorite pastime is swing dancing. And he understands it as well as he understands the science that has made him a celebrity, because he knows that the women he dances with are all better dancers than he is (as noted in the Wilddancer “For Men Only” subpage). And he shares with Wilddancer a degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University.
There are lots of routes to success in Silicon Valley. Data Visualization Company founder and CEO Arijit Sengupta took one that might be considered highly unusual … unless you knew how extensive the social couples dancing offerings were at his alma mater. (In fact, a key reason that the Clintons’ daughter Chelsea chose Stanford University was because of its extensive dance offerings. And the dedication and major contributions of of Richard Powers have kept Stanford famous for its dancing.) But what is interesting about Arijit Sengupta is that he has woven dance-inspired ideas—e.g., a “floating floor” for his office or favorite songs for his smartphone’s ringtones—into his business life, as chronicled in Fast Company. His only regret: he doesn’t have enough time to dance anymore because his company is so successful that he is in great demand to lead it and to speak on behalf on the Big Data industry.
The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) is now under considerable pressure to announce regulations of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles)—AKA drones—used for taking photos and videos, and similar applications. Most recently (June 2) it announced it is considering giving permission to seven movie and TV studios. This may be little more than saying it will not object to the many individuals and companies that are already doing such things. Apparently the new attitude does not include rescinding the $10,000 fine levied against Texas Equusearch, a volunteer search-and-rescue organization that uses FLIR (forward looking infrared) cameras to attempt to find missing persons. Meanwhile, hobbyist usage continues to burgeon, with a new model called the Blade 350 QX RTF Quadcopter (www.bladequad.com) and a two-page spread in a recent Wall Street Journal.
On December 13, 2013 we opined in our blog post that Drones—which we will subsequently call UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) because of the negative image of military aircraft used to seek and kill enemy soldiers (especially terrorists)—could be used productively to record videos of dancers moving around the floor. Although we have yet to see any dance studios use one, the venerable Parrot AR Drone 2.0 (it would be a good idea for Parrot to stop using the emotionally-charged name for this mostly-toy model) in the right hands could give serious dancers and dance teachers some great camera angles not previously possible. In fact, during the UCWDC championships Wilddancer spoke with professional videographer who was taking videos of the whole floor with a fixed camera, but who had used a much larger professional model for other applications. However, in the meantime a bunch of companies—including Always Innovating (which may not yet have commercialized their MeCam), Transition Robotics (with their Quadshot), and Rotor Concept (with models HPQ-1 and HPQ-2)—have started offering alternatives to the Parrot model.
Amazon’s proposal for delivering packages via drones has triggered a huge wave of press coverage … and controversy. Wilddancer has been watching to see if and when they will get used to record dance routines, especially those that move around the dance floor (like waltz, foxtrot, cowboy two-step, or polka). The Parrot company in France introduced a model several years ago that can be controlled by an iPhone or iPod, which can also record the video stream sent back from the tiny video camera built into the drone. Thus far the Parrot seems to have been used mainly by the same sort of hobbyists who enjoy flying remote-controlled model planes. But maybe now with this publicity dancers (at least during practice and competitions) will consider using them to record their performances, and those of their competitors, it’s an idea whose time has come. Brookstone has been selling them for some time, and eBay usually has a bunch ofused ones listed. And the Christmas season is bringing them out in force, including from such unlikely-sounding retailers as Bed Bath & Beyond (selling the Quadricopter for $179). But the heavier-duty AR Drone 2.0 seems to be pegged at $299 (including at the Apple Store).