There’s literally a lot of buzz around the Super Bowl LIV this Sunday.
As the 49ers face off against the Chiefs this weekend, thousands of eager fans at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida might want to listen for something that sounds a bit like an overly aggressive lawn mower, or maybe a leaf blower. Game watchers will themselves be watched over by a hovering drone about twice the size of a football, deployed from its own, computer-controlled box — and built by a Brooklyn-based startup called Easy Aerial, as attendees go to and from the stadium.
"The system is used by the Miami Garden Police to provide security for the people coming to the event," Easy Aerial CEO and co-founder Ido Gur told.
For police, it’s “a bird’s eye view at 200 feet, with a good zoom camera and a good thermal camera,” according to Gur. He says the Miami Gardens Police Department in Florida will deploy Easy Aerial’s “Alpine Swift,” a four-rotor drone that boasts an assortment of cameras and hours of flight time through a tether. The drone is fully autonomous, capable of taking off, flying, and landing by itself. It even comes with its own little hangar called the Easy Guard, a computer-controlled box that whirs open on its own to make the drone ready for deployment.
At the first hint of trouble, the drone can deploy in under 30 seconds and point its camera into the crowd, providing police with a live overhead view using a combination of thermal optics, RGB, and even a 20x zoom camera. Gur says the drones are meant to replace the police watchtowers usually erected during big events ー a big selling point for the devices.
“Building a mast at 200 feet is very expensive and takes a lot of time,” said Gur. The Swift and its Guard box can be mounted on the bed of a pickup truck and moved around for easy deployment.
But all that innovation comes at a price. The drones themselves start at $12,000, with a complete system easily passing $100,000. The company says most of its business comes from the U.S. government.
The story was updated to clarify that the Easy Aerial drones will be deployed in the surrounding parking lot of the event.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
Starbucks’ AI barista aims to speed service and improve experience. Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune Business Editor, explains its impact on workers and customers.
As Big Tech reports Q3 earnings, investors await proof that massive AI and cloud investments from Meta, Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet are driving real growth.
Eric Trump joins us to discuss American Bitcoin’s mission, market strategy, and why he believes the U.S. must lead the next era of digital currency innovation.
