The U.S. Army ordered units to halt the use of DJI drones, it was revealed last week, but officials still won't say why it banned the company's products. DJI told International Business Times it reached out to officials about the direction to discontinue the use of its drones, but the U.S. army did not respond to them. "The US Army has not explained why it suddenly banned the use of DJI drones and components, what'cyber vulnerabilities' it is concerned about, or whether it has also excluded drones made by other manufacturers," DJI said. In a letter obtained by sUAS News, the U.S. Army Research Lab and U.S. Navy found there were operational risks associated with DJI products. The memo cited a classified report, "DJI UAS Technology Threat and User Vulnerabilities," and a U.S. Navy memo, "Operational Risks with Regards to DJI Family of Products."

A new book shedding light on the top-secret life of a drone pilot in the US military is being turned into a film financed by Hollywood director Michael Bay. Drone Warrior: An Elite Soldier's Inside Account of the Hunt for America's Most Dangerous Enemies is a book following the nearly decade-long career of Brett Velicovich, a drone pilot with America's most elite military unit, Delta Force. Co-written by Pulitzer Prize winning former Wall Street Journal author Christopher S Stewart, the book charts Velicovich's career as he traveled across the world hunting down some of the United States' most wanted terrorists. Brett Velicovich, a former drone pilot with America's most elite military unit, Delta Force, has released a book detailing his time with the force Co-written by Pulitzer Prize winning former Wall Street Journal author Christopher S Stewart, the book charts Velicovich's career The book tells stories of Velicovich's time traveling the world and hunting down some of the United States' most wanted terrorists. He's pictured above with Somali forces in Burundi Featuring missions in Somalia, Burundi, Afghanistan and more, Drone Warrior pulls no punches in its portrayal of modern-day warfare, with Velicovich being particularly candid in his assessment of US military operations.

Greg Ferro, writing in Ethereal Mind, examined a new release from Intel subsidiary, Movidius. The vendor is launching a Neural Compute Stick, which it first demonstrated at CES 2017. Described as an "AI accelerator" on a USB drive, the product is intended to boost Intel's deep learning and AI capabilities and play off Movidius' 2016 launch of Fathom NCS. The ultimate goal for the product is to provide developers with a low-power option for developing offline AI applications. In Ferro's view, AI computation for as little as $80 at retail might help to improve network telemetry and path selection.

Foxconn may in fact be heading to Michigan, according to Gov. Rick Snyder. Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou was quoted in Chinese media reports as saying the company, a major supplier for Apple (AAPL), might open a new facility in Michigan to research new automobile technology like self-driving vehicles. Michigan, the home of General Motors (GM), Ford (F) and Fiat Chrysler (FCAU), would be the second U.S. location for Foxconn. The Taiwanese electronics manufacturer recently announced plans to build a massive $10 billion plant in Wisconsin. Gov. Snyder is optimistic that Foxconn will open a facility in Michigan, but said what exactly it is has not been determined and it could be a few months before any potential deal takes shape.

Before the meeting, roughly three dozen activists from various groups -- including the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, Black Lives Matter and Los Angeles Community Action Network -- stood outside the LAPD's downtown headquarters, denouncing the use of drones by police. The Police Commission should "completely reject LAPD's latest attempt to revive its drone program," said Hamid Khan, founder of the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, an anti-surveillance group that frequently criticizes the LAPD. Earlier this year, L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell announced his agency's plans to use a $10,000 drone to help deputies responding to arson scenes, suspected bombs and hostage situations. On July 27, the majority of the Civilian Oversight Commission also expressed their desire for McDonnell to stop flying the drone, citing concerns over surveillance and safety.

An Iranian drone nearly collided with a U.S. Navy F-18 Super Hornet while the American jet was in a holding pattern, a U.S. defense official told Fox News. The jet was about to land aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, which recently arrived in the Persian Gulf. It was the first time an Iranian drone has "interrupted a flight pattern," the official said. The F-18 "maneuvered to avoid collision," said the official, who described the unarmed Iranian drone as a Qom-1. The official described the encounter as "unsafe and unprofessional…and dangerous."

Here's the latest for Friday, July 28th: Senate rejects Republican'Skinny Repeal' of health care law; Foxconn agrees to build massive plant in Wisconsin; Amusement ride-maker tells fairs worldwide not to use Ohio accident ride; Train crash in Barcelona. A Foxconn recruitment office in Shenzhen, China is seen on Feb. 22, 2013. More: Foxconn plans '8K 5G' displays at new U.S. plant In a phone interview from Shanghai, where he was concluding a nine-day trade trip in China, Snyder said Monday night there is a "strong possibility" for Foxconn to still locate in the state after the company in recent weeks picked neighboring Wisconsin for a $10 billion display panel plant with 3,000 employees that could grow to 13,000. Snyder told The Associated Press that Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou invited him for dinner, meetings and a tour of the company's sprawling factory in Shenzhen near Hong Kong that employs some 200,000 workers. They discussed the autonomous vehicle industry and advanced manufacturing, Snyder said.

President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement on immigration reform. Entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa says the RAISE Act could be good for the country. Editor's note: Silicon Valley entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa has appeared frequently on this page, most recently here. I was shooting with him just last week in and around his home in Palo Alto for a story on his new book, "The Driver in the Driverless Car," and his forecast of an imminent job crisis caused by high technology and what we as a society should do about it. And more to the point, high tech in the form his Tesla, which can already do a lot of the driverless driving, including parking itself in Vivek's garage by remote control -- somewhat haltingly -- as this brief 1:33 video clip demonstrates: An immigrant from India, Vivek has been a staunch -- some would say "strident" -- supporter of diversity, especially in high tech, where he has found it lamentably lacking with regard to both gender and race.

A secret spy plane operated by the US Marshals hunted drug cartel kingpins in Mexico. A military contractor that tracks terrorists in Africa is also flying surveillance aircraft over US cities. In two stories published last week, BuzzFeed News revealed the activities of aircraft that their operators didn't want to discuss. These discoveries came not from tip-offs from anonymous sources, but by training a computer to recognize known spy planes, then setting it loose on large quantities of flight-tracking data compiled by the website Flightradar24. Here's how we did it.

Imagine that tomorrow, some smart kid invented a technology that let people or physical goods pass through walls, and posted instructions for how to build it cheaply from common household materials. Lots of industries would probably become more productive. Being able to walk through walls instead of being forced to use doors would make it easier to navigate offices, move goods in and out of warehouses and accomplish any number of mundane tasks. That would give the economy a boost. But the negative might well outweigh the positive.