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Canadian startup Opener came out of stealth to unveil its flying vehicle BlackFly on Thursday.

BlackFly can travel 25 miles at 62 mph, is fully amphibious, and allegedly so easy to use that you don't need a licence to fly it.

Opener also announced backing from Google cofounder Larry Page, who has previously invested in flying vehicle company Kitty Hawk.

Google cofounder Larry Page has backed Canadian startup Opener, which came out of stealth mode on Thursday to reveal its electric flying vehicle BlackFly.

It's the second flying car startup backed by Page, who has also put money into US startup Kitty Hawk, headed up by former Googler Sebastian Thrun. Opener didn't say how much he had invested.

We first saw the news via the BBC. 

BlackFly is a one-seater that can travel 25 miles at a cruising speed of 62 mph propelled by eight motors, and is apparently fully amphibious (although it takes off best from grassy ground). The vehicle is operated by a joystick, and Opener claims that its controls are simple to master, and requires no formal piloting license to fly. 

Opener said it had spent the last nine years in stealth mode building BlackFly, and said it had conducted 1,400 flights across 12,000 miles during tests. It's been working with Canada's transport authorities during testing. The company said it eventually wanted BlackFly vehicles to integrate with Canada's public transport network.

It isn't clear when the flying vehicles might be available to buy, but Opener has won permission from regulators to fly BlackFly as a "basic ultralight aircraft." According to the BBC, early models will be expensive but eventually the vehicles might cost around the same as an SUV.

You can watch the BlackFly in action here:

SEE ALSO: A new version of the 'flying car' backed by Google cofounder Larry Page is here — see how it works

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Technology is increasingly disrupting every part of our daily lives.

Smart speakers and voice assistants let us interact with our homes and with retailers in new and seamless ways.

Smartphones are taking over as the dominant shopping device.

Viewers continue to move away from traditional TV toward digital platforms.

And the list is growing.

Nearly every industry has been disrupted by digital technologies over the past 10 years. And in 2018, we expect to see more transformative developments affect our businesses, careers, and lives.

Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has put together a list of 35 Big Tech Predictions for 2018 across Apps and Platforms, Digital Media, Payments, Internet of Things, E-Commerce, Fintech, and Transportation & Logistics. Some of these major predictions include:

Cryptocurrencies will become more widely accepted

Google and Apple will challenge Amazon in the smart speaker space

The resurgence of the VR market

The real self-driving car race will begin

Drone regulations will relax

Alibaba’s international expansion

Gen Z will become a major focal point for media companies and advertisers

Payment security will become paramount

Smart home devices will take off

This comprehensive list of 35 predictions can be yours for free today. As an added bonus, you will gain immediate access to our exclusive free newsletter, Business Insider Intelligence Daily.

To get your copy of this FREE report, simply click here.

A recent Twitter crackdown on 'locked' accounts meant that high-profile users lost millions of followers overnight.

Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and Barack Obama each lost more than two million followers overnight.

Donald Trump's following looks relatively unscathed. 

Celebrity accounts on Twitter have seen a big drop in numbers overnight, thanks to a rule change by the company.

Twitter announced on Wednesday that it would no longer include "locked" accounts in follower numbers in an effort to boost user trust in the service. Twitter locks accounts when they display a sudden change of behaviour, like sending lots of unsolicited replies. 

According to social media analytics service Socialblade, the nine biggest Twitter accounts — Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Barack Obama, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Ellen Degeneres, Christiano Ronaldo and YouTube — all saw drops of more than 2 million followers each.

Here's Katy Perry's follow count — check out the sudden drop at the end:

The size of the drops were not directly correlated to the amount of initial followers. Justin Timberlake rounds out the top 10 accounts with the biggest followings, but he's lost around 1.8 million overnight.

Meanwhile Britney Spears (14th in terms of followers) did lose more than 2 million, and Twitter's own corporate Twitter account (16th) lost more than 7 million.

Here's Twitter's follower count according to SocialBlade:

The most popular accounts have more than 100 million followers, and Donald Trump is far down the list with 53.1 million. His follow count remains relatively unscathed. He lost just 326,118 followers on Thursday, the day before most accounts saw a drop, and on Friday he regained 5,339 followers.

Here's Donald Trump's follow count:

Although losing 2 million followers is undoubtedly a significant drop, proportionally speaking it's not necessarily huge. Katy Perry started off with 109 million followers, and a 2.8 million drop represents a decline of approximately 2.6%. Twitter initially warned that its culling of fake followers would affect about 6% of all follows, so Perry actually may have got off lightly.

SEE ALSO: Facebook won’t ban InfoWars in its fake news purge — a site that says 9/11 was staged and the moon landing was fake

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Facebook has been widely criticised for allowing conspiracy site InfoWars to have a page on its platform.

The company held a press event on Wednesday where it emphasised its crackdown on misinformation and fake news — but it didn't have a good explanation when asked by CNN why InfoWars still had a presence.

Infowars is known for pushing conspiracy theories, and has claimed that Sandy Hook was a hoax, the moon landings were fake, and 9/11 was a false flag.

Facebook suggested InfoWars published "analysis" and said banning pages would erode freedom of speech.

Facebook is facing a big backlash over the fact it allows conspiracy InfoWars to operate a page on its platform, just as the social network is trying to promote its efforts in dealing with fake news. 

The company gave a presentation to the US media on Wednesday about its efforts to combat misinformation, and then took questions from reporters. CNN's Oliver Darcy asked how Facebook can be serious about tackling fake news if it allows InfoWars to operate on its platform.

John Hegeman, head of Facebook's News Feed, reportedly responded that Facebook does not "take down false news."

InfoWars, whose Facebook page has almost 1 million followers, is notorious for pushing conspiracy theories on its own site and on YouTube. Its host Alex Jones has claimed that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax. The outlet has said that 9/11 was a false flag, and that the moon landings were faked. Jones also promoted the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, and was forced to apologise when threatened with lawsuits.

"I guess just for being false that doesn't violate the community standards," Hegeman said, saying InfoWars has not incurred any violations that would result in it being taken down. "I think part of the fundamental thing here is that we created Facebook to be a place where different people can have a voice. And different publishers have very different points of view."

When Hegeman's comments drew criticism from journalists, Facebook followed up with a series of posts on Twitter defending its position. It suggested that InfoWars pushed out "analysis."

We see Pages on both the left and the right pumping out what they consider opinion or analysis – but others call fake news. We believe banning these Pages would be contrary to the basic principles of free speech.

— Facebook (@facebook) July 12, 2018

Instead, we demote individual posts etc. that are reported by FB users and rated as false by fact checkers. This means they lose around 80% of any future views. We also demote Pages and domains that repeatedly share false news.

— Facebook (@facebook) July 12, 2018

Sorry you feel that way. The question we face is whether to ban a Page for peddling information debunked by fact-checkers or to demote it so fewer people see it. We’ve chosen the second. Understand that you disagree, and thanks for the feedback.

— Facebook (@facebook) July 12, 2018

Thanks for the feedback. No-one is defending the harassment of victim’s families online or offline – and we ban pages that repeatedly harass people per our standards.

— Facebook (@facebook) July 12, 2018

The harder question is do you ban Pages (or people) that spread conspiracy theories or misinfo? We believe the better approach is to demote fake news posts, and the Pages that spread them. These guys are allowed YouTube and Twitter accounts too – we imagine for the same reason.

— Facebook (@facebook) July 12, 2018

Not hard in this instance. But the harder part is deciding what to do with a Page that peddles conspiracy theories big and small. We don’t think banning them is the right option – better to demote posts rated as false and the Pages that spread them.

— Facebook (@facebook) July 12, 2018

This isn't the first time InfoWars has proved a conundrum for social media companies. A group of brands including Nike suspended their advertising on YouTube after they discovered their ads were being run alongside InfoWars' channels.

SEE ALSO: Former Infowars staffers filed a formal complaint against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones alleging anti-Semitism, racism, and sexual misconduct

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Steve Cohen backs crypto hedge fund Autonomous Partners through Cohen Private Ventures.

Cohen's backing comes amid growing interest from mainstream investors in crypto assets.

Hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen has invested in the crypto craze, according to Fortune.

Fortune reported on Thursday that Cohen has invested in crypto asset hedge fund Autonomous Partners through his vehicle Cohen Private Ventures. Autonomous, which was founded last year, has also raised money from Union Square Ventures and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.

It is not known how much Cohen has invested in the fund but the backing coming amid growing signs of interest from institutional and more mainstream investors in crypto assets.

There are over 250 crypto-only hedge funds, with the bulk launched over the last 18 months. These give more traditional investors access to the fast-growing, but high-risk, crypto sector. Financial technology research house Autonomous Next estimates that these funds have raised as much as $5 billion between them.

Cohen made his estimated $11 billion fortune running SAC Capital, one of Wall Street's most feted hedge funds in the 2000s before it was shut down by the SEC amid an insider trading probe. SAC Capital pleaded guilty to insider trading in the US in 2013 and paid a $1.3 billion fine. Cohen never admitted personal blame but was banned from supervising funds for two years. That ban expired earlier this year.

Cohen has been focusing on his personal hedge fund, Point72, in the interim but is in the process of opening up the fund to outside capital now that his ban has expired. Last week it emerged that Britain's financial regulator had blocked Cohen from taking external investor money in the UK.

SEE ALSO: Steve Cohen's hedge fund Point72 has reportedly been blocked from taking British money

DON'T MISS: A top crypto hedge fund lawyer explains the 4 main trading strategies that funds use to make money

NEXT UP: 'A new era for capital markets': The Swiss stock exchange is launching its own cryptocurrency exchange

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