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Amazon dreams up a drone that will understand your hand signals
Amazon was just issued a patent for a UAV that can interpret gesture and vocal commands, a device that could in theory be used to deliver packages. First spotted by GeekWire, the patent describes a drone-like device outfitted with various sensors, cameras and other equipment that could recognize gestures such as a person waving it towards them or someone shooing it away. In some very entertaining illustrations, the patent shows the UAV approaching a human who's waving at it wildly.
DJI is building 1,000 custom drones for a construction company
You might think of drones as consumer products, but DJI has unveiled a deal that shows where their future sales potential lies. Its commercial division is selling 1,000 custom Matrice 100 drones equipped with Skycatch imaging technology to Japanese construction equipment giant Komatsu. The sale represents the "largest commercial drone order in history," said DJI.
Pros and cons: Our quick verdict on DJI's Mavic Air
If you have a checklist for a camera drone, it probably includes things like portability, image quality, battery life and cost. DJI has been in the game long enough to know the things you want, and the result is the Mavic Air. Not to give you any spoilers, but the Mavic Air does well on all the above, and offers a whole lot more to boot. It's not all up-sides though (okay, it is mostly upsides, but you'll probably want to watch our "pros and cons" video above all the same).
Officials probe first possible drone-related aircraft crash in the US
US authorities have started investigating what could be the first drone-related aircraft crash in the US, according to Bloomberg. Pilots have been reporting more and more drone sightings these past few years based on data from the FAA, but most of those incidents have been harmless. That might not be the case this time around. The pilot and student flying the helicopter that crashed in South Carolina on Wednesday told investigators they saw a small drone appear in front of them while practicing maneuvers 50 feet above the tree line.
DJI will create no-fly zones around Olympic venues in South Korea
Days ago, South Korean authorities announced that they'd capture any drone that got too close to Olympics event facilities. If you have a DJI-made craft, you won't even be able to get close. The UAV maker is releasing a software patch that creates a no-fly zone around Olympic areas.
DJI Mavic Air review: Aerial photography's next small thing
When DJI revealed the Mavic Pro in late 2016, it ended up being a turning point for the company. DJI was already the dominant name in consumer drones thanks to the Phantom series, but the Mavic Pro was cheaper, smaller and downright meaner-looking. The combination of price, features and cool-factor made it an instant success. Then there was the Spark, which was smaller, but less powerful and lacked some of the basic features that a budding aerial photographer wants. Enter the Mavic Air, a quadcopter that slots between the Mavic Pro and Spark on DJI's roster.
DJI's $799 Mavic Air drone is a tiny creative powerhouse
Yesterday's leak might have spoiled the surprise, but DJI was still enthusiastic about unveiling its new Mavic Air drone in rainy New York this morning. While last year's Spark was all about making drones accessible to a new generation of pilots, the $799/£769 Mavic Air (pre-orders are open now with shipments starting January 28th) is a high-performance creative machine that just happens to be incredibly small. When folded up, the Mavic Air is about as tall and wide as a smartphone -- it's so tiny, in fact, that a spokesperson had a few crammed into his vest without looking the least bit frumpy.
DJI's Mavic Air drone may have improved 4K video
DJI is supposed to be unveiling a new drone on Jan. 23rd, but the cat might already be out of the bag. Kanzhaji has posted photos and details of the Mavic Air, a foldable drone that would reportedly slot neatly between the diminutive Spark and the existing foldable drone, the Mavic Pro. It wouldn't last as long as the Pro (certainly not the Platinum edition) with a 21-minute flight time, but it might actually best its higher-end ancestor in a few areas. You'd get 60FPS 4K video recording instead of the Pro's 30FPS, an additional backward-proximity sensor and 32-megapixel spherical photos.
Lacie's DJI Copilot is the perfect portable hard drive for video pros
Look, it's kinda hard to get excited about a hard drive. But Engadget video producer Kaard Bombe immediately started geeking out hard over the Lacie DJI Copilot. It's a portable hard drive with the sort of features any professional videographer or photographer would kill for. Sure, at its heart it's a rugged 2TB drive, but it's also a media-card reader, a USB hub and backup battery.
DJI's second smartphone gimbal gets improved controls and a lower price
DJI's Osmo Mobile set the standard for shooting stabilized smartphone videos, and now the time is right for a follow-up. At CES the company revealed the new DJI Osmo Mobile 2, a redesigned sequel meant to make mobile videography more accessible to the masses. The best part: It costs a reasonable $129.
DJI built a one-handed stabilizer for your SLR or mirrorless camera
DJI hasn't just been working on smartphone stabilizers ahead of CES -- it also built its first single-handed stabilizer for SLRs and mirrorless cameras. As with the refined Osmo Mobile, the newly unveiled DJI Ronin-S is all about keeping things simple in the field.
GoPro plans to cut 300 jobs as Karma drone division struggles
GoPro is laying off about 200 to 300 employees, largely from its Karma drone division, TechCrunch has reported. The company has informed the employees, who will remain on payroll for another six weeks, and will make a public announcement sometime soon. GoPro had already laid off around 270 people in early 2015, in part because of increasing competition in the action camera industry, and in part because of the disastrous launch of its Karma drone.
The best gadgets of 2017
2017 hasn't been the easiest year to live through, but we've found joy and comfort in some of the hardware we've tested over the last 12 months. Last year, we saw VR surge in prominence, but our picks this year are more conventional -- not to mention more diverse. The usual suspects include the iPhone X and Surface Laptop for getting helping us get things done, and the Nintendo Switch and the Sonos One for their ability to let us luxuriate at home and on the road. There's some more unexpected stuff on our list, too, like the easy-to-use DJI Spark drone as well as the Mighty, a tiny music player that won over much of the Engadget staff. Ultimately, we appreciated these picks for the ways they made our lives more pleasant, even if only a little.
DJI forces UK pilots to sit a ‘knowledge quiz’ before takeoff
If you're hoping for a DJI drone this Christmas, be prepared for one teeny-tiny roadblock as you rush into the back garden with controller in hand. Today, the company has announced a mandatory "Knowledge Quiz" for all of its customers in the UK. It will live in the DJI GO 4 app — which is basically required to use the company's snap-on controller — and pose eight questions about safe, common sense flying. In short, you won't be able to fly until you've answered them all successfully. So if you haven't already, it's worth swatting up on our handy guide to UK drone regulations.
Homeland Security claims DJI drones are spying for China
A memo from the Los Angeles office of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau (ICE) has been making the rounds and it states some pretty bold claims about drone-maker DJI. The memo, which was apparently issued in August, says that the officials assess "with moderate confidence that Chinese-based company DJI Science and Technology is providing US critical infrastructure and law enforcement data to the Chinese government." The LA ICE office also says that the information is based on, "open source reporting and a reliable source within the unmanned aerial systems industry with first and secondhand access."
DJI threatens legal action after researcher reports bug
In August, DJI announced that it was launching a bug bounty program that would give out rewards to people who could find flaws in its software. The company said it would pay between $100 and $30,000 depending on the flaw. But according to an essay written by security researcher Kevin Finisterre, and reported by the Verge, the program isn't off to a great start.
DJI's scanner can nab info on drones mid-flight
This morning, Chinese drone company DJI demonstrated its new AeroScope device that can track UAVs in a 5-kilometer radius. At the moment, it can only monitor the company's drones, but it's a potentially potent tool for law enforcement (or other DJI-authorized customers) to keep an eye on aerial activity within their radius.
DJI's 6K drone camera is designed to make movies
You can certainly shoot movies with drones right now, but that doesn't mean drone cameras are ideally suited to movie-making. They seldom have the resolution and image quality of the pro movie cameras you see on the ground, let alone the high-quality lenses. DJI is trying to fix that -- it's introducing the Zenmuse X7, billed as the first Super 35 digital camera tuned for pro drone cinematography. Its large sensor lets you shoot 6K RAW video (in CinemaDNG format) with 14 stops of dynamic range, promising crisp, editing-ready video with plenty of detail in low light. And like any good movie-grade camera, the glass plays a prominent role.
DJI's drone 'privacy mode' is now available
In August, DJI announced that it would be introducing Local Data Mode to its line of drones, a setting that would cut drones off from internet activity and stop information like flight location from being uploaded to the company's servers. Well that privacy mode is now available through a DJI Pilot app update for DJI CrystalSky monitors and some Android tablets. "We are creating Local Data Mode to address the needs of our enterprise customers, including public and private organizations that are using DJI technology to perform sensitive operations around the world," Brendan Schulman, DJI's VP of policy and legal affairs, said in a statement.
DJI Mavic Pro Platinum edition boasts longer battery life
DJI's Mavic Pro drone already has fantastic battery life, but it's still got nothing on its upgraded sibling. The dronemaker has revealed the Mavic Pro Platinum edition at this year's IFA convention in Berlin, and it boasts 11 percent more battery life than the original version. If the basic variant of DJI's foldable drone can last up to 27 minutes, this model can last up to around 30. Sure, the upgrade only adds a few minutes, but most drones, including known Mavic Pro rival GoPro Karma, only promise around 20 minutes of flight time. That's made even more impressive by the fact that drone's battery cell is tiny.
