Lily, a high-flying camera drone company that came out of stealth in 2015, came in for a hard landing today. The company announced that it spite of impressive pre-orders--$34 million worth--it couldn't nail down the financing needed to "unlock our manufacturing line" and would be issuing refunds to all would-be customers. Lily's founders, Antoine Balaresque and Henry Bradlow, have not yet been available for comment. When I first met Balaresque and Bradlow, they were building prototypes of Lily in a crowded garage behind an Atherton, Calif., hacker house. I knew I was seeing the beginning of a classic Silicon Valley startup tale.

An incredible drone's-eye video that shows an unfortunate flying robot crashing into Seattle's famous Space Needle has just been released. The bizarre crash, which occurred on New Year's Eve, was captured by the drone's on-board camera. After filming a stunning view of downtown Seattle, the drone, which is hovering near the Space Needle's observation deck, suddenly accelerates and slams into the landmark's roof. Q13 Fox reports that the drone crashed about 575 feet above the ground and notes that the Space Needle was not damaged in the collision. It is not clear who was operating the drone at the time of the incident.

Women Who Tech, a national nonprofit working to break down barriers to women in the tech and startup industry, in partnership with Craig Newmark, announced the 10 finalists selected for its fourth Women Startup Challenge pitch competition, a nationwide contest that will focus on showcasing and funding women-led startups working in the areas of virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI). The competition is co-sponsored by startup investors Fred and Joanne Wilson, and will award $50,000 as a cash grant, $35,000 in pro bono legal services by global law firm Paul Hastings, LLP, among other startup friendly services. "We received close to 200 entries from women-led startups who are at the forefront of VR and AI. These ventures are building virtual limbs, self-driving non-automotive vehicles, 3-D immersive cameras, drone technologies and wearable tech for gaming. It's vitally important that women and their companies get properly supported so that their perspective on these life changing products is brought to market," said Allyson Kapin, founder of Women Who Tech.

Eagerly anticipated "selfie drone" the Lily Camera, which promised to be able to follow owners around and automatically photograph them, has been cancelled by its designers. The drone secured at least $34m of pre-orders since going on sale on the manufacturer's website in June, but the costs of development continually outpaced the speed with which Lily could raise funds. Lily's founders, Antoine Balaresque and Henry Bradlow, informed customers that due to failures to secure financing in order to manufacture and ship products, they would be forced to shut down the company and offer refunds to customers. They said: "We have been delighted by the steady advancements in the quality of our product and have received great feedback from our Beta program. At the same time, we have been racing against a clock of ever-diminishing funds."

Lily has regrettably announced its decision to terminate its business amid funding issues. This is sad news to the 60,000 customers who were hoping to receive their camera drones from the company that could have been a competitor to GoPro and other action camera makers. According to VentureBeat, Lily is shutting down after it failed to secure enough funds for the manufacture and shipping of its drone cameras. After careful thought, the company decided to send out emails to its clients on Wednesday, informing them that it is folding its business. Lily received numerous preorders amounting to $34 million after leaving a great impression to consumers during its beta program.

Google owner Alphabet's subsidiary research company, X, has shut down its project aimed at building a solar-powered drone intended to bring internet access to remote areas. The project, which stemmed from an acquisition Google made in April 2014 of New Mexico-based Titan Aerospace, was deemed by X to be less promising than a competing attempt to use lightweight weather balloons for the same purpose. "The team from Titan was brought into X in late-2015. We ended our exploration of high-altitude UAVs for internet access shortly after," an X spokesperson said. "By comparison, at this stage the economics and technical feasibility of Project Loon [its high-altitude balloon project] present a much more promising way to connect rural and remote parts of the world. Many people from the Titan team are now using their expertise as part of other high-flying projects at X, including Loon and Project Wing."

FUKUSHIMA – In a world first, a drone successfully delivered a flask of hot soup to surfers on Thursday during a test of an unmanned flying vehicle traveling a preset route of more than 10 km. The industry ministry and the Fukushima Prefectural Government were among those conducting the test in a coastal area of Minamisoma in the prefecture, north of the crisis-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Traveling at 43 kph, the drone took 15 minutes to cover the 12 km from the Fukushima Hama-Dori Robot Testing Zone to Kitaizumi, a popular surfing spot. It was the first test of its kind in the world involving a drone flying for more than 10 km on a programmed route to make a delivery, according to the prefectural government. The robot testing zone is a designated area for testing robots to be used during post-disaster relief activities. An official of the prefecture said that as Japan has only a limited number of areas where long-distance drones can be tested, Fukushima will invite robot- and drone-related businesses to the prefecture as part of efforts to recover from the nuclear accident.

Lily Robotics, which promised a autonomous flying camera, is shutting down operations. Lily Robotics, the makers of an autonomous flying camera that launched with great fanfare and garnered $34 million in pre-orders, is dead. The San Francisco-drone company said in an email to customers that it was unable to find more financing to enable manufacturing and production of its first drone. One source that was informed of the company's troubles said that Lily had been trying to bring in an additional $15 million after having already raised $15 million by Dec. 2015. "We have been racing against a clock of ever-diminishing funds," wrote the company's cofounders Henry Bradlow and Antoine Balaresque.

Alphabet has shut down its Titan unit that was exploring the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for the delivery of internet services. The Google parent is instead focusing on its balloons-based Project Loon to deliver the Internet to remote areas. Google acquired in 2014 Titan Aerospace and the team from the drone startup was brought in late 2015 into the X research lab, which incubates a number of Alphabet moonshot projects like the Project Wing project for drone-based delivery. The work on the use of high-altitude UAVs for internet access was ended shortly after, as it was found that in comparison, at this stage "the economics and technical feasibility of Project Loon present a much more promising way to connect rural and remote parts of the world," Alphabet said in a statement Wednesday. News of the shutdown of the Titan project was first reported by 9to5Google.

Google's secretive X R&D lab, a division of Google's parent company Alphabet, has pulled the plug on its drone project that would bring internet access to millions of people – Project Titan. It has been confirmed by Alphabet that engineers were told to look for other positions within the Alphabet/Google community. Although the project has been killed, the mission is still alive – the firm will continue to use Project Loon as a way to connect rural and remote areas of the world. X, a division of Google's parent company Alphabet, has pulled the plug on its project that would bring internet access to millions of people – Titan. The news was first reported by 9To5Mac, which received a statement from an X spokesperson.