Google is shuttering its URL shortening service

Google announced that it is shutting down its URL shortening service, goo.gl. The company says that new and anonymous users won’t be able to create links through the goo.gl console as of April 13th, but existing users will be able to use it for another year, after which it will be discontinued completely.

Firebase Software Engineer Michael Hermanto says that the company introduced the URL shortener in 2009, and that since then, the ways in which people share information on the web has changed, while additional URL shorteners have grown in popularity. He notes that Google is refocusing its efforts by replacing it with Firebase Dynamic Links (FDL), which allow users to redirect to specific locations in iOS, Android or web apps.

Existing users will be able to create shortened URLs and export data from the goo.gl console through March 30th 2019. After that time, shortened links will continue to redirect to their destinations, but won’t be migrated over to the new Firebase console.

The World’s Smallest Jet – The FLS Microjet

If you ever hear someone talking about the smallest jet in the world it means that they are talking about a high performance, aerobatic, single seat, low-wing, all metal, jet-powered aircraft called FLS.The BD-5 was dubbed “The World’s Smallest Jet” and quickly earned a reputation as James Bond’s jet when it was featured in the movie “Octopussy.”

At EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, AirshowStuff sat down with Justin Lewis, pilot of the USFleetTracking FLS Microjet, the world’s smallest jet. Watch to see this amazing aircraft in action, and hear about how it came to be and why it is so special!

At just over 5 meters long, it can reach speeds of up to 515 km/h while having a range of 370 km. It is powered by a Quantum Turbine System which gives a thrust of 265lbs 120 kg, allowing it an impressive maximum carrying capacity of 200 kg while the plane itself only weighs 188 kg.

The FLS was originally created by a small company – Bede Aircraft in the 1970s.tThe first aircraft got a name of BD-5. However, in a few years the company was shut down leaving the smallest jet’s destiny unknown until 1992, when the aircraft was picked upby Ed (“Skeeter”) & Richard Karnes started BD Micro Technologies, Inc. who decided to update the BD-5 with modern instruments and safer building techniques.

The First Ever Jet Turbine Bagger – The Voodoo Jet Bike

From many styles used by the big motorcycles in America, and the Bagger is one style that is widely used on motorcycles there. The Bagger-style motorcycles are cruisers outfitted with saddlebags on their tail which are ideal for touring, hence the name “baggers”.

Voodoo Bike Works teamed up with Krookid Photography and Felt Not Heard Productions to bring you the very first Jet Turbine Bagger.. There are no others like this! Its been featured on the History Channel and was a part of Sturgis Biker Build Off 2014! Take a look for yourself.

This motorcycle is deliberately created by Kody McNew and the crew of VooDoo Bikeworks in order to answer the challenges of a reality show called ‘Biker Battleground Phoenix,’ the show was initiated by Paul Yaffe, an American legendary motorbike-designer.

On the reality show series pits five rival bike-builders from Phoenix, Arizona, against each other to see who can design and build the best bike to put an end to their rivalry and smack talking.

The motorbike also had been featured on the History Channel and was a part of Sturgis Biker Build Off 2014! Take a look for yourself on the short video made by Voodoo Bikeworks teamed up with Krookid Photography and Felt Not Heard Productions.

Amazon’s Alexa can now set DVR recordings

Alexa’s ability to control DVRs is going to improve in the near future. Amazon announced that it’s updated its Video Skill API so that Alexa can now start recordings, launch an app, or carry out playback commands. Multiple set-top box makers already committed to updating or building Alexa skills with these features, including Dish, Verizon, TiVo, and DirecTV. Amazon says some have already been experimenting with these new features.

Users will be able to say things like, “Alexa, record the Cubs game,” and the set-top box will plan a recording. They’ll also be able to tell the assistant to launch specific apps or services, like, “Alexa, launch Netflix.” Finally, they’ll be able to say, “Alexa, pause,” without having to explicitly name their set-top box. Some users have previously been able to use these commands, but the developers of these skills had to do additional work on their end to make it work. Now, other developers can implement them more easily. We can all shout at Alexa, even if our set-top box maker doesn’t want to do extra work. Anything that makes interactions with Alexa less painful is cool.

World’s First Bubble Powered Floating Biological Filter For Natural-Organic Pools

This prototype called “OLIVE” which cleans water using natural processes and is designed for Natural:Organic Pools. They are now being manufactured and should be available soon. OLIVE is a natural swimming pool filter that uses bubbles to organically clean the water.

OLIVE makes building and maintaining a natural/organic swimming pool easier than it has ever been before. My name is David, I developed my own air powered filtration system for natural pools which has inspired huge worldwide interest.

This is the first floating bio-filtration system to be created. It works using three types of filters – vortex, mesh and a biological filter – simultaneously. The water travels into the filter, where the vortex seperates it from any floating debris like seeds, which are then sent to the mesh filter.

Cleaned water then passes to the bio-filtration filter, where billions of beneficial micro-organisms remove impurities. Plants can also be grown in this filter, with anti-bacterial species being of additional benefit.

It is powered by the air with a remote compressor, which means it is completely safe in the water.The floating OLIVE filter makes a natural swimming pool easier to create and maintain.

Huawei’s wannabe AirPods look and feel good

I know I’m supposed to be outraged about tech companies blatantly copying each other’s designs, but I don’t have the naivety for it anymore. Huawei, the company that’s been shipping copycat Apple EarPods with its Android smartphones for years, has decided to also clone Apple’s wireless AirPods, and the product of that is called the Huawei FreeBuds. I got my hands on the FreeBuds at Huawei’s P20 launch event, and I found myself pleasantly surprised by their styling and comfort. Yes, Huawei is copying Apple; but I’m not a patent lawyer, I just want to see good tech proliferate, and the FreeBuds look promising.

If anything, I’m a little surprised that it took so long for another major company to copy Apple’s AirPod design. As I wrote in my recent assessment of the AirPods after long-term use, I’ve grown accustomed to their alien look and I believe the extended stem design is the right way to go with truly wireless earbuds. By pushing the Bluetooth antenna and the battery out of the earphone and into the stem, Apple’s been able to balance the contradictory demands of providing both a clean wireless signal and a highly respectable sonic output. Huawei is following the same blueprint with its FreeBuds


Regrettably, Huawei wasn’t allowing any listening tests during its P20 event in Paris, however I was able to quickly try on the FreeBuds and I liked their fit and comfort. I’ve never had any issues keeping the AirPods in my ears (which has proven problematic for others), and the FreeBuds were similarly effortless to wear. Unlike the hard-shell AirPods, the FreeBuds come with a silicone tip attachment, which goes deeper into the ear than Apple’s buds do. That provides a higher degree of noise isolation, which is a feature the AirPods almost entirely lack. After a brief try, I’m left with the impression that the FreeBuds are a close match for the (physical) ease of use and wear of the AirPods. If you’re going to copy something, you might as well copy it well, right?

The FreeBuds have a slightly longer, slightly flatter stem than the AirPods, and their case is a little larger. Huawei promises double the AirPod battery life from a single charge, claiming you’ll get 10 hours of music from the FreeBuds without their case (and the case will recharge them to extend that further, just as with most other truly wireless buds). I like Huawei’s case, which has the same sort of shiny plastic finish as Apple’s. It closes with a satisfying click and opens with a simple push of the thumb, again just like Apple’s.

Huawei’s more generous with the colors than Apple, and you’ll be able to buy the FreeBuds in a glossy black variant as well as the familiar white. Even with the AirPods’ help, I’m not sure the world has yet adapted to seeing snow-white hockey sticks protruding from people’s ears, and so the even less common black might be the more socially disruptive option here. Then again, the black FreeBuds won’t be immediately confused for an Apple product, and that might be valuable to you.

In Europe, Huawei is pricing the FreeBuds at €159, which is a nice bit cheaper than the €179 AirPods price across the continent. The key question remaining is whether Huawei has succeeded in copying not only the look but also the sound and reliability of the AirPods — if that’s the case, I don’t think many consumers will mind what the FreeBuds are a copy of.

BionicFlyingFox – A Robotic Flying Fox That Can Fly Like the Real Thing

Flying fox as inspiration: thanks to its intelligent kinematics, the BionicFlyFox can master the agile flying manoeuvres of its natural role model. In order to be able to move in a defined space semi-autonomously, it communicates constantly with a motion-tracking system.


Due to the combination of the integrated on-board electronics with an external motion-tracking system, the ultra-lightweight flying object is able to move semi-autonomously in a defined airspace.

With a wingspan of 228 cm and a body length of 87 cm, the artificial flying fox weighs just 580 g. Like the natural flying fox, its wing kinematics are also divided into primaries and secondaries and covered with an elastic membrane, which continues from the wings down to the feet.

The model’s flying membrane is wafer-thin, ultralight whilst also robust. It consists of two airtight films and a knitted elastane fabric, which are welded together at approximately 45,000 points.