Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a popular design paradigm in which data and behaviors are encapsulated in such a way that they can be manipulated together.
For anyone with basic Python skills who is new to object-oriented programming, this free ebook is a must-have. Each chapter includes relevant, step-by-step examples and case studies, with the overall ebook forming an in-depth, working program that’s completely free to download.
By the end of the book, you will have learned object-oriented principles in-depth using Python syntax, and will be able to create robust and reliable programs confidently.
Working your way through the ebook, you will be guided “from simple inheritance, one of the most useful tools in the object-oriented programmer’s toolbox, through exception handling to design patterns, an object-oriented way of looking at object-oriented concepts”.
The ebook also shows you how to:
Implement objects in Python by creating classes and defining methods
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Cloud gaming — however a company chooses to define that — is shaping up to be a big part of the next generation of consoles and other platforms. But Mario creator and Nintendo veteran Shigeru Miyamoto says his company won’t be so quick to jump on the bandwagon.
Speaking to shareholders at Nintendo’s annual general meeting, Miyamoto and other executives addressed a variety of issues, among them what some interpret as a failure to keep up with the state of the industry. Sony and Microsoft (together, amazingly) are about to lock horns with Google, Nvidia, and others in the arena of game streaming, but Nintendo has announced no plans whatsoever regarding the powerful new technology.
“We believe it is important to continue to use these diverse technical environments to make unique entertainment that could only have been made by Nintendo,” he said. “We have not fallen behind with either VR or network services… Because we don’t publicize this until we release a product, it may look like we’re falling behind.”
But although this hinted that Nintendo is working in this direction, Miyamoto didn’t sound convinced that cloud gaming was a home run.
“I think that cloud gaming will become more widespread in the future, but I have no doubt that there will continue to be games that are fun because they are running locally and not on the cloud,” he said.
The Nintendo focus on local multiplayer and complete offline single-player games is certainly emblematic of this point of view. And while Nintendo has been slow to adopt the latest gaming trends, it has shown that it can pull them off very well, indeed like no other, for example with the excellent Splatoon 2 and its constantly evolving seasons and events.
Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said they see how gaming technology is evolving and that it’s important to “keep up with such changes,” but like Miyamoto made no indication that there was anything concrete on the way.
Instead, he indicated (again in true Nintendo style) that the company would reap the benefits of cloud gaming whether or not it took part in the practice.
“if these changes increase the worldwide gaming population, that will just give us more opportunities with our integrated hardware and software development approach to reach people worldwide with the unique entertainment that Nintendo can provide,” he said.
In other words, a rising tide lifts all boats, and if the others did the work to raise the water level, well, that’s their business.
The rumor on everyone’s mind after E3 is whether a new Switch or Switches are on the way. Naturally Furukawa demurred, saying that of course they were aware of speculation, but wouldn’t comment. However, he added: “It would spoil the surprise for consumers and is against the interests of our shareholders, so we are withholding any discussion.”
Of course a new Switch is on the way — that’s about as much as a confirmation anyone would be able to get from Furukawa or the other highly trained executives at Nintendo, even if the new hardware was coming out tomorrow. But at this rate it seems more likely that the new hardware will be timed to pull in buyers around the holidays — which may have the knock-on effect of taking the wind out of Microsoft and Sony’s sails (and sales) when they debut their next-generation consoles next year.
It’s Friday, so why not watch some good old-fashioned drone-powered graffiti? A design firm in Italy has put together a lovely little show that collected sketches from the art community and put them all together in a giant mural, painted over 12 hours by a team of drones.
The Urban Flying Opera project was curated by Carlo Ratti Associati, which collected some 1,200 small illustrations via an app, selecting 100 to assemble into a single mural. The line drawings were then loaded into a central control computer and painting instructions relayed to a set of four drones equipped with paint cans, which worked over a 12-hour period to put the whole thing together.
Each drone, provided by Tsuru Robotics (it’s partly a promotion for the company) was operating as part of a whole, with multiple position monitoring systems making sure they didn’t accidentally bump into one another. No second chances when you’re spray painting a white wall.
The mural is 46 feet wide and 39 feet tall, and each color layer, laid on separately, represents a different aspect of the community the project is trying to highlight.
“The city is an open canvas, where people can inscribe their stories in many ways. Such processes have always been happening; however, with UFO we tried to accelerate them, using drone technology to allow for a new use of painting as a means of expression,” CRA founder Carlo Ratti told New Atlas.
It’s still nowhere near the level of fidelity you see in serious graffiti and street art, but it’s clear that drone-based spray painting is becoming a viable method rather than a lark. Perhaps even future drone-based vandalism will be of higher quality!
Many of us have jobs that require us to stay in one position for long hours. Though you may get up for lunch, drinks, or the restroom, it’s too easy to sit down for long periods of time. We can’t solely blame careers either: look at how addictive gaming can be.
But we all know that leading a sedentary lifestyle can have negative impacts on our health. So what happens to our bodies when we’re inactive? What are the side effects of sitting for too long? And what can you do to stay active?
Can Sitting Down Increase the Risk of Early Death?
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that being physically inactive accounts for 6 percent of deaths globally. That might not sound much, but it’s the fourth leading risk factor for mortality.
It’s the main cause of up to 25 percent of breast and colon cancers, 27 percent of diabetes cases, and 30 percent of heart disease cases.
Of course, some studies are based on observation only, seeing correlations but not always causation. The sick, for example, are more likely to rest for hours on end. Others do take this into account. Nonetheless, the death of around 70,000 UK residents each year are attributed to sitting or lying down for too long.
Why Is Sitting Too Long Bad for You?
This might initially seem obvious. Indeed, many studies gloss over this. Many consider that inactivity is bad for you for exactly that reason: you’re not engaging in an activity.
However, that’s ignoring other potential explanations. For instance, snacking while watching TV or playing games means you can pile on the pounds and not sweat them off. When you sit down, your body’s ability to burn off energy slows to one calorie per minute—that’s about a third compared to a casual walk.
As the electrical activity in your muscles drop, so does the production of enzymes that make lipids and triglycerides, which attack fatty cells in your blood. Obviously, your metabolism plays a big part in this too.
It’s a vicious cycle. If you suffer from ill-health, you’ll likely spend more time lying or sitting down. The more you sit down, the less motivated you are to move about, meaning you sit down even longer.
When you spend six hours a day sitting down, your oxygen consumption levels decrease, making simple exercises tougher.
But there are a few things you can do to counteract inertia, including using workout generators to exercise. Or just start small by taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Remember, your reluctance to take action can trigger a lot of problems.
4 Serious Health Risks of Inactivity
So what are the health risks of sitting too long at a desk all day? Here’s just a small sample.
1. Diabetes
Insulin is the hormone that helps your body burn sugar and carbohydrates for energy. Inactivity negatively affects hormone levels (which further impacts your immune system).
It’s unusual for anyone to spend 24 hours sitting down. However, if you do, insulin’s effectiveness drops by 24 percent. It’s not solely lengthy spells like that which affect you though.
The average person sits down for 8 hours a day. But let’s optimistically posit that you spend 6 hours a day seated. It’s a fair estimate if you work in an office environment. Similarly, if you watch TV, play games, or use the PC when you get home. Within two weeks of doing this, your body’s resistance to insulin increases.
The physical reaction to this is weight gain. The hidden cost is higher blood sugar levels, which can result in Type 2 diabetes.
The opposite is also true. A 2016 issue of Diabetes Care reported spending three minutes moving after sitting down for 30 minutes improves blood glucose levels.
2. Blood Clots
A pooling of blood, often due to inertia, puts pressure on your veins, which can become misshapen. Superficial swellings are known as varicose veins, which looks like spider’s webs across your skin. Symptoms include an aching or a feeling of heaviness in limbs. These aren’t generally too serious.
However, venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a greater concern.
VTE is a restriction of blood flow due to clots. The most common form is Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), associated in your extremities, including in your arms. You’ll have heard of DVT in relation to vacations as some suffer from it during long flights.
In rare cases, this can develop into a Pulmonary Embolism (PE), when a clot dislodges and travels to your lungs. Obviously, this is a life-threatening illness.
A surprising example of this came to light after the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake in Japan. Those fleeing the crisis spent considerable time in their cars: 82 percent of the 51 hospitalized evacuees reported blood clotting issues. 35 of these patients suffered from PE.
3. Heart Disease
It goes without saying that something which affects your blood can also impact your heart.
Diabetes typically increases the level of “bad” cholesterol in your body, which in turn can increase the risk of heart disease. But regardless of blood sugar levels, sitting too long can still lead to heart problems. Just 2 hours after sitting down, the level of “good” cholesterol in your blood drops by 20 percent.
Watching TV for 3 hours or more each day makes you 64 percent likelier to die from heart disease.
Links between sitting all day at your desk and premature death were established in the 1950s. Bus drivers in London were twice as likely to suffer heart attacks than the vehicles’ conductors. But it obviously remains a huge problem.
Coronary heart disease accounts for some 700,000 deaths annually in the US, making it the country’s leading cause of death. It’s further estimated that 35 percent of these deaths are due to sedentary lifestyles.
What’s more, those with heart disease are more likely to be inflicted by depression too. It’s no wonder, then, that physical inactivity can lead to suicide. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Paula Clayton MD, says:
“90 percent or more of people who kill themselves have a mental disorder before the time of their death. 60 percent have major depression.”
4. Osteoporosis
If you’ve sat in an uncomfortable chair for ages, you’ll be familiar with back and neck pain. This is often due to the disks between the vertebrae losing their softness, resulting in misalignment of bones in your spine.
You might’ve traded that lumpy seat for a more ergonomic one. Yes, you’re limiting the damage, but your back muscles and spine will nonetheless be impacted by inactivity.
That’s because sitting all day affects your skeleton. For some, this can lead to osteoporosis, i.e. weakened bones.
Your bones constantly renew themselves: essentially, old bones are reabsorbed and replaced. But as you get older, your bone mass decreases faster than it’s rejuvenated.
An average person loses 1 percent bone density each year after reaching peak production in their early 20s. Inactivity means bone mass will decrease at a greater rate than that as oxygen consumption drops. Your bones receive about 10 percent of cardiac output and use oxygen in your blood to repair and replace.
The main adage to take from this is: “Use it or lose it.” Even if you’re not feeling the effects now, you may when you get older.
What Can You Do to Counter Negative Effects?
There’s lots of conflicting evidence, sadly, but there remains positive news too.
Dr. Levine, a researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, coined the term, Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT). It demonstrates how small everyday movements can counteract an otherwise sedentary lifestyle.
Studies assert that moving every 30 minutes can dramatically cut the risk of premature death from inertia.
It doesn’t mean you have to go for a run. You need “moderate exercise”, i.e. the equivalent of a brisk walk. Your daily errands add to your step count, so cleaning the kitchen helps. So does bathroom breaks and heading to the water cooler. You can use apps to help combat pain from bad posture and remind you to limber up every half hour.
You need to do something that burns more calories than sitting down—and yes, that includes merely standing up. It’s about breaking your day up.
The US Department of Health advises us to take 10,000 steps a day. It’s an achievable goal which is further enforced by health services like Fitbit. If you can’t make it to 10,000 steps, increasing your average step count, even by small increments, is a solid idea. You could walk to work; spend an hour each week gardening; or talk face-to-face, rather than by email.
What if you’re going on vacation?
Take regular breaks when driving. You can typically walk down the aisle on an airplane too. Still, drinking plenty of water is very important as dehydration can lead to blood clots. Buy support socks and try to move in whatever ways you possibly can. Simply moving your ankles in circular motions regularly can help.
How to Start Toward a Healthier Lifestyle
The American Journal of Epidemiology published an analysis of over 127,000 adults in the USA over a 21-year period. It found a troubling list of illnesses as effects of sitting all day, including cancer; strokes; kidney, lung, and liver disease; Parkinson’s disease; and Alzheimer’s disease.
It sounds scary. But don’t approach achieving a healthy lifestyle as a big hurdle. These are brief interruptions to processes that are damaging your body. Good health isn’t the only boon: some apps reward you for a healthy lifestyle too.
Programming is fun once you know what you’re doing, but getting to that point can be a grueling journey.
Which is why you should set aside time to play these coding games and challenges. Not only do they serve as fun breaks, but you’ll learn faster and retain more info thanks to the hands-on practice and experience.
Robocode is a complex programming game where you code robot tanks that fight against each other. Your job is to write the artificial intelligence that drives your robots to success—using real languages like Java, Scala, C#, and more. To get started, check out the Robocode Basics and Tutorials.
The Robocode installer comes with a development environment, built-in robot editor, and Java compiler. You’re actually writing real code! Despite launching back in 2000, Robocode is still regularly updated and maintained, helped along by the fact that it’s open-source and addictive.
Codingame is a game-like web app where you solve puzzles and challenges by writing real code. Over 25 programming languages are supported, including Java, C#, Python, JavaScript, Lua, Go, Rust, and more. Each puzzle/challenge has a theme (e.g. program the turret to shoot down airships that come too close), which kicks up the fun factor.
Codecombat is another web app for game-like puzzles and challenges that can only be solved by writing code. But whereas Codingame is more entertaining, Codecombat has a significant educational bent with a “Classroom Edition” that teachers can use to help their students learn how to code. As of this writing, three course paths are available: Computer Science, Web Development, and Game Development.
Codewars isn’t so much a game as it is a gamified way to practice coding and solving algorithmic challenges. You get points for completing puzzles and point values are determined by how efficient your solutions are. Codewars lets you view solutions submitted by others, which you can study and learn from. I believe it’s one of the best ways to learn a new programming language and its idioms.
Vim Adventures is a fun game-like tutorial for learning how to use Vim, a highly unusual but extremely powerful text editor that many programming pros love to use. It has a huge learning curve though, which is why tutorials like this exist. So while Vim isn’t a programming language per se, mastering Vim can help you become a more efficient coder, hence why I’ve included it in this article.
6. TIS-100
“It’s the assembly language programming game you never asked for!” It says so right there on the tin. TIS-100 is a video game like no other, forcing you to learn and use a mock version of low-level assembly coding to solve its puzzles. This game is not a joke—it’s difficult, it’s open-ended, and it has incredible replay value as long as you don’t become so frustrated and confused that you uninstall in a fit of rage.
From the same studio behind TIS-100 comes Shenzhen I/O, a puzzle game where you’re tasked with creating simplified circuits and writing simplified assembly code that runs on said circuits. Between the two games, Shenzhen I/O is easier to get into and more enjoyable yet just as satisfyingly complex.
In Human Resource Machine, you play as an office worker who completes tasks by combining various instructions together. In a sense, this game is all about puzzle solving through visual programming, even going as far to touch on concepts like logical flow and memory management—but presented in an easy-to-digest, office-themed way. It’s a great game for exercising your programmer’s brain.
Screeps (which stands for “scripted creeps”) is an MMO strategy game where you use JavaScript to code the behaviors of in-game entities and build an empire for yourself. The base game comes with a private server where you can play on your own, plus 30 days of full access to the official server. After that, you can keep playing on the official server in a limited capacity, which can be lifted with a monthly subscription.
Download:Screeps ($15, optional subscription for $9/mo)
However, if after everything you’re still struggling and can’t seem to grasp the basics of programming, you may want to step back and consider whether programming is the right choice for you. Let us know how it goes!
Our verdict of the Eachine E511S foldable drone:
Once you figure out how to use the app, this is a reasonable little drone. The limited instructions mean this isn't the most beginner-friendly model.710
Eachine’s E511S foldable drone is a low-budget alternative to DJI’s plethora of small but expensive drones. The E511S is clearly styled after the Mavic Air, but is it any good? Is the old adage “you get what you pay for” true for this little drone? Let’s find out.
After the review, don’t forget to enter our giveaway contest at the bottom of this page for a chance to win a brand-new E511S foldable drone.
Specifications
Battery size: 7.4V 1200 mAh
Camera: 1080p 120° wide angle
Charging time: 2 hours
Dimensions (folded): 7.3 x 4.2 x 2.5 inches
Dimensions (unfolded): 14 x 14.4 x 2.9 inches
FPV distance: 200ft
Flying time: 16 minutes
Frequency: 2.4GHz
Motor type: coreless
R/C distance: 82ft
Weight: 9.8oz
Design and Features
Priced at less than $200, the E511S strays away from impulse territory and instead enters the Christmas present price range. While it is relatively affordable for a drone with this skill set, it’s not cheap enough to take a gamble on. Our expectations are high at this price.
Inside the box, you’ll find the drone and remote transmitter. You get one battery, a USB charger, two spare blades, four protection covers, a screwdriver, and a user manual. The inclusion of spare blades is nice given how easily blades can break in a collision. This USB charger is, in reality, a USB cable with a small circuit in the plug. It’s not possible to charge this drone with your mobile phone charger.
This drone uses GPS to enhance your flight experience. This is very common for big drones but does introduce the risk for “flyaways” if not calibrated before every flight. It uses this GPS to provide a range of features, including:
Waypoints
Follow mode
Return to home
Headless mode
Orbit mode
Besides this, various other sensors and buttons aim to handle the hard parts of flying for you. It has a two-speed control, one key takeoff, one key landing, emergency stop, 3D flip mode, and VR mode.
One key takeoff and landing works very well, but for features such as VR mode, you’ll need a mobile phone VR holder as one is not included in the box.
The E511S looks nice from a distance but on closer inspection, it reveals its low-budget construction. Weighing 9.8oz it is very light. Weighing less is a good thing for a drone, but this makes the E511S feel cheap and plasticky. The arms fold into the body, with the raised support feet folding into the arms. The propellers split into two parts, further reducing its travel size.
On the top, you’ll find the power switch and status LEDs. The rear houses the removable battery, which does not contain any status lights. It’s not possible to tell the battery life without the battery installed in the drone. On the bottom are the micro SD card slot and antenna. Finally, the front sports two forward-facing LEDs, and the 1080p camera. This camera has a 120° field of view and can tilt down up to 45°. There is no stabilizer for this camera, either mechanical or software-based.
While cheap feeling and very lightweight, the drone is nice and compact. It folds down to a diminutive size for transport and unfolds in a matter of seconds.
The controller works in conjunction with the mobile app. There’s a slot underneath it to hold your mobile, but no way to share power from the controller to your phone like many DJI drones. You’ll need to supply four “AAA” batteries for this controller, which is irritating. I’d expect the controller to have its own rechargeable battery at this price.
The analog control sticks are ergonomically positioned and smooth. There’s no screen on this controller, but there are many buttons scattered around for starting/stopping recording, taking photos, one-touch takeoff/landing, emergency stop, and more. Four LED status lights show the remaining controller battery level.
First Flights
Before making any flight you’ll need to pair the controller with the drone, download and pair the mobile app, and calibrate the GPS.
The pairing of the controller and drone works by powering up the drone, and then the controller. After a few seconds, the status lights switch from flashing to a steady solid color. There’s no way to reset this process or otherwise pair again without power cycling both. It works well, but we’re unsure how this works if several drones are pairing at the same time. Will the controller pair with the first drone it finds or is it encoded to this specific drone? We think it’s the former which again is unusual for a drone in this price range.
The basic mobile app installation is straight forward enough. This connects to the 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi network the drone broadcasts when powered on. Strangely enough, there’s no password on this network, so anyone with a mobile phone and the inclination can connect to your drone, and issue rogue commands. Not great for a drone that can cause serious injury should it crash.
Finally, you must calibrate the GPS, and failure to do so is often a quick way to lose drones. This consists of rotating the drone through the horizontal and vertical axis and is a common procedure for drones equipped with GPS. unfortunately, you have to rely on a series of status lights to know when each step has finished, and so this becomes something of a guessing game.
Will the lights change after the third or fourth rotation? Who knows. Despite the inconsistency, it did calibrate. A feature in the app to show the current calibration status would solve this, as the current implementation in both the app and controller is a button to start the process.
When you’re ready, and the drone has acquired enough satellites, you can start to fly! By pushing both the analog sticks to their lower outer corners the motors will start. The one-touch takeoff button launches the drone, and you can start having fun.
Flying this drone is a mixed experience. Sometimes it flew very well, but a lot of a time it could not hold its position. This may be the GPS positioning, but as it did occasionally work perfectly, it’s more likely to be the wind. Despite flying at a low altitude in a sheltered area, even the mildest of breezes was enough to impact the E511S.
The best way to describe the analog control sticks is “sensitive”. The slightest movement sends the drone at speed in that direction. Even limiting the speed did little to reduce the violent maneuvers experienced.
I attempted to try the “somersault” button, but this either didn’t work or worked in a strange and unanticipated way. After pressing the button, the drone immediately started ascending at speed. With no somersault happening, and the drone still ascending almost out of control, I had no choice but to use the kill switch. Holding this button for three seconds cuts the power to the drone. This had the desired effect of bringing the drone back to ground level, and because it’s so light no real damage happened.
While this drone is capable of flying well, you’ll spend most of the time worrying about it either losing control or getting carried away on a minor breeze. That said, many cheap or “toy” drones suffer this same problem. By using the included prop guards you can safely fly indoors. You fly can outdoors providing you have perfect weather conditions.
Using the App
It’s possible to fly this drone without the app at all, but there are some advantages to using it. Primarily, you get to see the real-time camera feed.
All the advertised GPS features are only possible through the app, but here’s where things get confusing. By using the “Eachine FPV” app, the features are very limited. It’s hard to tell how long you’ve been recording for, and the only way to find out what each button does is through an information menu. This leaves you to memorize each button. If the buttons had a small label or text description underneath them, you would fare much better.
The instruction manual shows pictures of a different app. After doing some research, this is an app called “LW FPV”. We’re not sure if this is a third-party app or not, as it looks like the first app but it actually works.
This LW FPV app works far better than the Eachine FVP app. Intelligent flight modes, video recording elapsed time, the real-time map, waypoints, and more all function as they should.
Neither app provides any instructions. A simple tutorial on the calibration stage or an option to format the memory card would be excellent places to start. We encountered a problem with our micro SD card. It may need formatting, but as Eachine do not share the format this needs to be in, and the apps do not provide an option to format, it’s still a best-guess scenario at what this should be.
We got the video to record by removing the memory card and recording the video to an Android phone. We lost a lot of video footage due to this problem, as both apps implied video recording had started, yet refused to save files to either the phone or the memory card.
Image Quality
Despite boasting a 1080p camera, there’s nothing special about the image quality from this drone. While the colors look acceptable at times, the sensor does a very poor job at handling bright scenes. Any kind of sun in the image and you’ll immediately notice how washed out and overexposed everything becomes.
There are no options at all in the app to change photo settings. There are no manual settings or even a basic exposure slider. Images end up looking like those out of a 10-year-old mobile phone. If you position the drone out of direct sunlight, pointing towards the shade, the results are barely useable. Even then, photos taken at the full 1920 x 1088 resolution are hardly clear or sharp. It’s not possible to take RAW photos.
The video quality is about on par with the photo quality. It’s good enough to let you see where you’re going but forget about producing cinematic movies with this camera. The videos also suffer the same overexposed problem as the photos.
Should You Buy the E511s Foldable Drone?
Before buying this drone, you need to set your expectations. If you’re going to fly it indoors, at low altitude, or generally want to have fun with a step-up from an entry-level drone, then sure, it’s acceptable. Anything more than basic flights though, and you will soon become frustrated by its limitations. Be it the terrible camera quality, difficult to use mobile app, or its inability to handle the smallest of winds.
This drone has a lot of potential, but unfortunately, it’s difficult to fly especially for a beginner. An updated app or instruction manual with troubleshooting steps and basic information such as the app name would help. Eachine can learn a lot from entry-level drones such as the DJI Tello or DJI Spark, but this little drone does perform well after a little troubleshooting.
The good news is, the usability of this drone has the potential to significantly improve in the future. As most of its flaws are due to the user experience in the app, future software updates may resolve this. Use the offer code 9VJDOBPA on Amazon.com to get 20% off the list price!
We have a brand new Eachine E511S foldable drone to giveaway. All you have to do is enter our giveaway contest below!
Occasionally, there comes a time in any email address’s life when it needs to be laid to rest. Perhaps it’s suffering from an overload of spam or an unprofessional username, or maybe you’ve just decided to switch to a new email provider.
But how do you delete an Outlook email address? And how do you delete a Hotmail account? If you want to delete an address with either of the two providers, keep reading.
How to Delete Your Outlook or Hotmail Account
Outlook and Hotmail are both owned and operated by Microsoft. If you have an email account with either service, it is inextricably linked with the rest of your profile in your Microsoft Account.
As such, you cannot delete your Outlook or Hotmail account without deleting your Microsoft Account.
Depending on your use case, that might not be prudent nor possible. Lots of other services rely on your Microsoft Account, including Windows, Skype, Xbox Live, Office 365, and Microsoft To-Do.
If you do want to delete your Microsoft Account, follow the steps below:
Go to account.microsoft.com and enter your login credentials.
Click on the Security tab at the top of the page.
Go to More Security Options > Explore.
Scroll down and click on Close My Account.
Work through the various on-screen confirmations.
For 60 days after you complete the process, you can log back into your account using the same credentials to reactivate it.
So, you’ve decided that deleting your entire Microsoft Account isn’t the best course of action—but what other options do you have available to you?
Thankfully, Outlook’s support for aliases means you still have choices. You need to:
Create a new Outlook email alias.
Change your sign-in settings.
Change the primary email address on your account.
Delete the old email address.
1. Create a New Outlook Email Address
Before you can worry about how to delete your old Outlook email address, you first need to create a new one. It will live under the same Microsoft Account umbrella as your current address.
To begin the process, log into the Outlook web app, click on the Gear icon in the upper right-hand corner, and select View All Outlook Settings.
In the new window, navigate to Email > Sync Email > Email Aliases > Manage or choose a primary alias. Your browser will open. Add a new alias by clicking on Add email.
You now have two options:
You can either create an entirely new email address, or you can add an existing email address on a different Microsoft Account to your Outlook inbox. The latter option is useful if you’d like to merge your old Hotmail account with your newer Outlook email address.
When you’ve entered the required information, hit the Add Alias button. The new Outlook email address is now active. You can use it to send and receive emails immediately.
2. Change Sign-In Preferences on Outlook
Your old email address will still be used as a login for your other Microsoft apps and services; you won’t be able to truly leave it in the past.
You can fix that issue by choosing which of your Outlook email address have sign-in permissions on your account. When you’re looking at your list of aliases, click on Change sign-in preferences at the bottom of the screen to make alterations. Mark the checkboxes next to the accounts you need to give access to and click Save when you’re ready.
Note: You cannot change the sign-in settings for your primary Outlook account.
3. Change the Primary Email Address
You will not be able to delete your Outlook or Hotmail address without first removing its status as the primary address on your account.
To remove your old email’s privileges, to back to Email > Sync Email > Email Aliases > Manage or choose a primary alias in Outlook’s Settings menu.
A list of all your email addresses will be displayed on the screen. Identify the new address that you just created, then click on the corresponding Make Primary button and agree to the on-screen confirmation.
4. Delete the Old Outlook Email Address
Once you’ve created a new email alias and made it (or one of your other aliases) the primary address on your Microsoft Account, you are finally in a position to delete your old Outlook email address. Remember, following this process means the underlying Microsoft Account remains unaltered.
Once again, open the Outlook or Hotmail web app and go to Email > Sync Email > Email Aliases > Manage or choose a primary alias in the Settings menu.
Find the Outlook email address to delete in the list, then click on the Remove button and agree to the on-screen confirmation.
Warning: Deleting your old email means messages can no longer be received at the address. Make sure to provide your new email address to any companies, apps, or services that use your old email address as a point of contact. Failure to notify the services could lead to you getting locked out of your accounts.
How to Delete an Outlook Account
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A team of German researchers have created an automatic landing system for small aircraft that lets them touch down not only without a pilot, but without any of the tech on the ground that lets other planes do it. It could open up a new era of autonomous flight — and make ordinary landings safer to boot.
Now it would be natural to think that with the sophisticated autopilot systems that we have today, a plane could land itself quite easily. And that’s kind of true — but the autoland systems on full-size aircraft aren’t really autonomous. They rely on a set of radio signals emitted by stations only found at major airports: the Instrument Landing System, or ILS.
These signals tell the plane exactly where the runway is even in poor visibility, but even so an “automatic” landing is rarely done. Instead, the pilots — as they do elsewhere — use the autopilot system as an assist, in this case to help them locate the runway and descend properly. A plane can land automatically using ILS and other systems, but it’s rare and even when they do it, it isn’t truly autonomous — it’s more like the airport is flying the plane by wire.
But researchers at Technische Universität München (TUM, or think of it as Munich Tech) have created a system that can land a plane without relying on ground systems at all, and demonstrated it with a pilot on board — or rather, passenger, since he kept his hands in his lap the whole time.
The automated plane comes in for a landing.
A plane making an autonomous landing needs to know exactly where the runway is, naturally, but it can’t rely on GPS — too imprecise — and if it can’t use ILS and other ground systems, what’s left? Well, the computer can find the runway the way pilots do: with its eyes. In this case, both visible-light and infrared cameras on the nose of the plane.
TUM’s tests used a a single-passenger plane, a Diamond DA42 that the team outfitted with a custom-designed automatic control system and a computer vision processor both built for the purpose, together called C2Land. The computer, trained to recognize and characterize a runway using the cameras, put its know-how to work in May taking the plane in for a flawless landing.
As test pilot Thomas Wimmer put it in a TUM news release: “The cameras already recognize the runway at a great distance from the airport. The system then guides the aircraft through the landing approach on a completely automatic basis and lands it precisely on the runway’s centerline.”
You can see the full flight in the video below.
This is a major milestone in automated flight, since until now planes have had to rely on extensive ground-based systems to perform a landing like this one — which means automated landings aren’t currently possible at smaller airports or should something go wrong with the ILS. A small plane like this one is more likely to be at a small airport with no such system, and should a heavy fog roll in, an autoland system like this might be preferable to a pilot who can’t see in infrared.
Right now the tech is very much still experimental, not even at the level where it could be distributed and tested widely, let alone certified by aviation authorities. But the safety benefits are obvious and even as a backup or augmentation to the existing, rarely used autoland systems it would likely be a welcome addition.
