Let's face it--nobody reads the manual. In fact, many gadgets no longer come with printed instructions. But when it comes to drones, you should read that guide to learn about the gadget's controls before you take it for a spin. We know, it's boring--think of the time spent as a sacrifice you're making to ensure you don't crash your expensive flying machine. Once the drone's features seem familiar, try a low-key first flight: Hover a few feet off the ground in an obstacle-free space like your backyard.

An American military drone strike over the weekend in southern Libya killed a top recruiter and logistics specialist for Al Qaeda's branch in northwest Africa, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, and a senior military official warned of more attacks on extremists there. The military's Africa Command said in a statement that the attack killed two militants, one of whom was identified as Musa Abu Dawud, a high-ranking official in Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, known as AQIM. Mr. Dawud trained Qaeda recruits in Libya for strike operations in the region, and provided logistics, money and weapons that enabled the group to threaten and attack American and Western interests, the military statement said. Until now, the Pentagon had focused its counterterrorism strikes in Libya -- eight since President Trump took office -- almost exclusively on Islamic State fighters and operatives farther north. Over several months in 2016, the military conducted nearly 500 airstrikes in the coastal city of Surt to destroy the Islamic State's stronghold there.

It's impossible to read about technology today without running headfirst into artificial intelligence (AI) and the topics under its umbrella: autonomous driving, machine learning, deep learning, ethics/law/regulation, military applications, healthcare, FINTECH, and even customer experience. At that second level, it's startling how much one encounters China and its extraordinary investments in artificial intelligence. Chinese advancements are fascinating, but for me, at least, also downright worrisome -- what I'll call my "fascinated skepticism". Please enjoy the articles below as you head into the weekend. China's Swarms of Smart Drones Have Enormous Military Potential I don't care for swarms of insects or Hitchcock-inspired birds, let alone swarms of miniature drones.

Drone company DJI is expanding its efforts in the commercial sector with a new thermal imaging camera and a payload software development kit (SDK) that will allow startups and developers to integrate custom gear onto DJI drones. The Zenmuse XT2 thermal imaging camera, developed as part of an ongoing partnership with FLIR Systems, builds upon the original Zenmuse XT which was released in 2015. Side-by-side visual and thermal imaging sensors have been designed with emergency services and disaster recovery in mind, allowing operators to capture heat signatures otherwise invisible to the naked eye. QuickTrack mode centers the camera on a selected area, while HeatTrack automatically detects the hottest object in view. The on-board Temp Alarm interprets thermal data in real-time, alerting drone operators if an object exceeds critical thresholds.

Despite being commercially available, drones can be a real threat. They can barge into no-fly zones, engage in mid-air crashes, reconnaissance missions, or even conduct deadly air-strikes. The risk of such attacks never wears off but in order protect its critical installations against rogue UAVs, United States military is working on some lethal counter-drone weapons. The service, in collaboration with defense manufacturer Raytheon, has produced two Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAV) -- one that uses high power microwave (HPM) to disable the target and other that deploys a high energy laser (HEL) to disintegrate it. The two systems were put to test in a recent Maneuver Fire Integrated Experiment and were able to take out as many as 45 different drones out of the sky, along with a few stationary mortal projectiles, Popular Mechanics reported.

Military officials say no civilians appear to be injured in the strike. A U.S. drone strike killed a "high ranking" official in the Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb terror cell in Libya on Saturday, the Pentagon disclosed Wednesday. Musa Abu Dawud was one of two AQIM terrorists killed in the airstrike in southwest Libya near the city of Ubari in the Sahara desert. "Dawud trained AQIM recruits in Libya for attack operations in the region. He provided critical logistics support, funding and weapons to AQIM, enabling the terrorist group to threaten and attack U.S. and Western interests in the region," U.S. military's Africa Command said in a statement.

There are companies working on flying cars, and there are those developing flying cars that are autonomous. The latter are referred to as drones, though they're capable of ferrying passengers. Many see flying passenger drones as the future of urban mobility, and rumor has it that Porsche has one in the works. While the German automaker hasn't confirmed or offered much by way of details, a German automotive industry news site Automobilwoche claims the company is close to releasing the first design sketches. Porsche has yet to comment on the report, but the company's sales director, Detlev von Platen, supposedly hinted at the possibility.

A drone camera films a herd of caribou as they migrate in Western Canada. The footage offers a unique look at the behavior of individuals within the herd. Flying cameras are giving biologists an all-encompassing view of migration that reveals how social interactions motivate the animals' every move. Ecologists Andrew Berdahl, a Santa Fe Institute fellow, Colin Torney of the University of Glasgow, and colleagues flew drones to capture footage of Dolphin and Union caribou, a Canadian herd, as the animals crossed from Victoria Island to the Canadian mainland in the last stage of their fall migration. Scientists have long pondered the dynamics of animal migrations, but they've had limited ways to study them.

A breathtaking new video shows a Russian drone pilot flying his tiny craft to an altitude normally reserved for passenger jets. Denis Koryakin pushed his gadget 33,000ft (6 miles/10,000 metres) into the air in what is believed to be a world-record height for an everyday hobby drone. The footage shows the curvature of the Earth gradually pull into view while the drone shakes and buzzes as it rises through the clouds above a remote region of Siberia. Meghan Markle jokes that one day she'll need all the baby products Due to strict laws on the maximum altitudes drones are permitted to fly to, previous reports of the highest-ever flight have only reached of around 15,000ft (4,500m/2.8 Mr Koryakin's ascent took place in a remote region of Russia near the Siberian city of Strejevoï, where there are no altitude restrictions on small drone flights.

Google's artificial intelligence technology is being used by the U.S. Department of Defense to analyze drone footage, a rare and controversial move by a company that's actively limited its work with the military in the past.