There were a couple good articles about drones in the last day or two. This one from Scientific American asks, “What is a drone exactly?”

What, exactly, is a drone?

The answer turns out to be more complex than might be expected. Strictly speaking, a drone is an unmanned aircraft that can fly autonomously—that is, without a human in control. But even that seemingly simple definition quickly runs up against the nuances of how contemporary unmanned aircraft are flown.

And this one , from the NY Times, looks at some of the possibilities and concerns that drones are generating.

“The sky’s going to be dark with these things,” said Chris Anderson, the former editor of Wired, who started the hobbyist Web site DIY Drones and now runs a company, 3D Robotics, that sells unmanned aerial vehicles and equipment. He says it is selling about as many drones every calendar quarter — about 7,500 — as the United States military flies in total.

I know Chris Anderson wants to sell a lot of drones, but that quote is a little creepy.