It’s true that sometimes we are guilty of switching off and not paying much attention to some of the ‘newfangled technology’ that is constantly being introduced into our ever changing world.  But our attention has recently been brought to a couple of new ideas that even we understand and we’re pretty sure it won’t be long before they become a part of our everyday lives, without us really noticing.

Drones.  We’ve heard the controversy, we’ve seen the footage (both fictional & non fictional) and some of us may have felt somewhat unnerved by the thought of these drones or UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) and their capabilities.  We’re not here to jump into a controversial debate though, we’re here to tell you about what one company is planning to use them for.

Amazon – you may have heard of them? They’re an online retail site where you can buy, well, anything and everything really! If you have never ordered something from Amazon then you would have to be put in the bracket of ‘the minority’ I’m afraid.  If you are like me however, who tends to order stuff just that little bit too late to get it delivered by the time it’s actually needed, it can be very frustrating.  Now though, Amazon appears to be taking pity on the horrendously disorganised and is looking into delivering its goods (locally) by drone.  This could mean you could get your order flown to your doorstep within 30 minutes.  How amazing!  Then you would have to think of other excuses why you hadn’t got your mum her present other than ‘umm, the delivery was sooo delayed, tut tut’!

Amazon has said that this is a few years off yet and yes, there are a lot of technical and regulatory problems that will need to be dealt with first; airspace, licensing, manoeuvrability and security will all have to be closely scrutinised.  But who knows, for orders of smaller items that can be packaged into a certain sized container, this could become a reality in the next few years.  For those of you buying kayaks or bikes or an entire set of garden furniture, you may have to wait a little longer and have these delivered by the old fashioned method, you know, people!

So it’s onwards and upwards for Amazon.  For the rest of us just trying to get our heads around the complexity of how this could all work, it’s a bit unsettling, but also exciting to see what’s going to come next.  Next blog, I’ll tell you about another piece of technology that will make your brain ache. Try to keep up!