US Reaper Drones Over Syria

The skies of Syria are becoming somewhat crowded.

The country is in the midst of a long running civil war, while the brutal dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad tries to fight a large number of varied rebel factions. This of course includes radical militants and ISIS.

The war isn’t very well for anyone and its pulled in foreign states as well. In Eastern Syria, a Western coalition (including the USA) is launching attacks against ISIS. Russia also recently became involves and sent its military to support the Assad regime, and the Russians have been carrying out airstrikes as well. The skies are increasingly congested, and so this happens:

That is a US Airforce MQ-9 Reaper drone used by the United States in carrying out targeted assasinations.

This short video was uploaded to YouTube by the Russian Defense Ministry and was taken from the interior of a Russian jets cockpit. The video is captioned:

“The presence of aerial vehicles in the air space of Syria has increased.”

Apple ‘Wallet’ Payment Systems

By Loud

It’s over 12 months since Apple launched the mobile payment serviceand now Australians that carry an American Express card can use the Apple Pay feature which may eventually cause physical debit and credit cards to become an extinct species.

The feature operates through an application on an iPhone6 in the same way your chip-enabled bank card works with a shop’s payment systems.

You basically hold your phone near the reader terminal then click and you are done.

Apple Pay can be used on iPhone 6 onwards and all other new Apple devices

The Long Awaited iPad Pro

By Loud

So finally – Apple has announced that the long awaited iPad Pro will be available to order from Apple.com on November 11. They stated that the device will be available in stores by the 14th.

Prices are somewhat steep for the iPad Pro – starting at $799 for WiFi only model, to $1079 for the WiFi and 4G LTE version.

Further details about the new iPad Pro are available at Apple’s website.

The device is available in other countries this week.

Onboard Electronics

By Loud

So now the main regulatory agencies in the US, Canada, and Europe permit the use of electronics during takeoff and landing. This is referred to as “gate-to-gate” device use. So you may be able to use your device during your entire flight.

If you’ve ever been asked by a strict Lufthansa stewardess to pack away your iPad or laptop during a flight, you’ll be pleased to hear that those terrible days are in the past.

Airline Specific Regulations

However each airline is permitted to set its own internal rules. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) don’t set rules that can apply to all air carriers. They permit each airline to choose to embrace this revision. Airlines want to keep their passengers satisfied, so they’re generally allowing gate-to-gate device use. Not all carriers have accepted the change so some carriers won’t allow this useage on-board.

Portable Devices and Larger Devices

There are various rules for your small portable devices as well as larger computers. Essentially, any device the size of an iPad or smaller fits this bill.

These smaller devices can be used during takeoff and landing as long as you hold them.

Laptops aren’t included in this update. These need to be stowed during take-off and landing. You can still use the laptop during the flight.