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GoPro's Nick Woodman confirms he's 'open' to selling
It's barely the second week of 2018, and GoPro's already been through the media mill. Reports first surfaced that the company was about to begin another round of layoffs, and that it would shutter its drone business for good. Those proved to be true. Then, just two days ago, a second story claimed that GoPro was actively looking to sell off its business.
CNBC: GoPro is putting itself up for sale
Hot on the heels of GoPro announcing plans to fire up to 300 people and pull out of the drone business is the news that the company may put itself up for sale. CNBC is reporting that the action-camera maker has enlisted the services of JPMorgan Chase to help it find a potential buyer. Earlier in the day, the outlet reported that CEO Nick Woodman would "look at" opportunities to "unite with a bigger parent company." At this time, it's not clear if other parties are interested or how much it would cost to swallow the brand.
GoPro cuts nearly 300 jobs as it quits making drones
GoPro still isn't in the best of health, and that's leading it to make some tough decisions about its future. The action camera maker has confirmed that it's cutting nearly 300 jobs (from 1,254 to "fewer than 1,000"), and is exiting the drone market entirely. The Karma drone was the second most popular drone in its price class, GoPro said, but it faced profit margin problems in an "extremely competitive aerial market. Combine that with a "hostile regulatory environment" in Europe and the US, and the market is expected to shrink to the point where it's "untenable" to compete.
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.
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New in our buyer's guide: Apple, Google and a little Sonos
Separate from our holiday gift guide, it was time for us to update our year-round shortlist of recommendations. Since our last round of additions, three months ago, we've reviewed a boatload of flagship handsets, with the iPhone 8/8 Plus and Pixel 2/Pixel 2 XL all making the list. (It's not that we don't recommend the iPhone X, but we recommend the 8 and particularly the 8 Plus for more people.) While we were at it, we also decided that the Sonos One, Google Home Mini, Apple TV 4K, second-gen Daydream View VR headset and the GoPro Hero6 were also worthy of this list. Find all that and more in the Engadget buyer's guide.
GoPro is finally profitable again, but its holiday outlook disappoints
After years of losses, GoPro's main goal in 2017 was finding a way to make its business profitable. And it looks like the company finally succeeded during the third quarter, where it saw a net income of $15 million, according to its latest earnings report. That's not much, but it's a big improvement over last year's $104 million loss during the same quarter. Analysts expected to its revenues to jump by 30 percent, but GoPro surpassed that with 37 percent growth, reaching $330 million (compared to $240.5 million last year).
GoPro Hero 6 review: Slow-mo, stabilization and subtle refinements
If you look at the GoPro Hero 6, it's nearly impossible to tell it apart from the Hero 5, even on close inspection. The older, silver GoPros used to have the model number marked in black text on the front. The only way to tell the most recent cameras apart is small gray-on-gray text on the left side of the camera, and the word "power" on right (replacing "mode"). I even have to hold the camera up to the light to make sure the tiny number 5 isn't a 6 (and vice versa). But use the Hero 6 for more than a few minutes, and the improvements become apparent. There are three standout features that I think make the world of difference between these otherwise-identical GoPros. Here's what they are and why they matter.
The Hero 6 and 'GP1' is GoPro's chance to grow again
"When I first was listening to our team's desire to make a chip, I felt a bit of anxiety, like, are we getting a bit ahead of ourselves? This might be beyond what our capabilities are," Nick Woodman, GoPro founder and CEO, told me in a rare break from his boyish bombast.
GoPro’s Fusion 360-degree VR camera ships in November for $699
We've been hearing a lot about GoPro's Fusion 360 VR camera. Now we have availability and pricing details for you, thanks to an event in San Francisco today. It will ship in November, and the price is $699.
GoPro updates Karma drone with much-needed 'follow me' feature
When GoPro announced it was working on a drone, pretty much everyone thought that it'd have some sort of "follow" feature. It didn't. But it had the required technology all along. Finally, today, Karma is being updated to unlock that feature, along with a few other goodies.
GoPro Hero 6: 4K 60 FPS, better stabilization and HDR photos
When GoPro hosts an event in the fall, you get no prizes for guessing what's coming. CEO Nick Woodman just revealed the Hero 6 here in San Francisco, to no one's surprise. What is surprising (if you ignored the leaks) is that the new camera has one big, largely invisible change: the image processor (which GoPro is calling the GP1). We'll get to why that's important in a bit.
GoPro's Hero6 camera may feature 4K 60 FPS recording
GoPro is inching toward profitability, and its new Hero6 Black might finally bring the action-cam maker into the black. Spotted by a Photo Rumors reader, the camera will apparently capture 4K 60 FPS video (the Hero5 was 4K 30 FPS) from its 12 megapixel sensor. That's according to a photo of what looks like final retail packaging. Other than that, there are about as many new details as there were when CEO Nick Woodman confirmed the Hero6's existence in February.
Gnarbox turns your phone into a 4K video-editing studio
It's an overcast day in San Francisco, and there's a drone buzzing high above the city. I'm with Tim Feess, the young co-founder of Gnarbox, a rugged portable video-editing tool that pairs with an app on your phone and works with multiple cameras and memory cards. Clouds might be lingering over the skyline, but Feess is unperturbed. He's confident that we can make a video of our afternoon that I'd not only be pleased with but would find a cinch to create. He brings the drone down, and we decide to find a more colorful spot to fly.
GoPro bets its near future on the Hero6 and Fusion cameras
Ever since becoming a publicly traded company in 2014, GoPro hasn't had the most positive financial results. The camera maker has been struggling to be profitable, as shown by its past few quarterly earning reports, but its future isn't completely bleak. Today, GoPro exceeded Wall Street expectations, thanks to $296.5 million in revenue during Q2 2017, versus the roughly $270 million the market anticipated -- it's also a huge jump over the $220.8 from the same quarter last year. That said, GoPro still isn't profitable, since it reported yet another revenue loss. This time however, it was $30.5 million, which is much less than the 91.8 second-quarter loss in 2016. In other words, at least it's moving in the right direction.
GoPro QuikStories automatically creates a sweet edit for you
If you've spent more than five minutes on social media recently, you'll know that "stories" are the hot new currency. Sharing your day with your followers keeps you and your friends coming back for more. While stories have largely been the realm of apps like Instagram and Snapchat, GoPro recently decided it would toss its hat into the narrative-telling ring with "QuikStories."
AirDog's ADII 'follow me' drone doubles down on action sports
In 2015, the big innovation in drones was "follow-me" mode. It wasn't new, but the technology was finally good enough for it to become a leading feature in quadcopters. A few did just that, most notably AirDog, Lily, 3DR, DJI and Hexo+. In 2017, Lily is bust, 3DR had to pivot to enterprise and Hexo+ has been "out of stock" on its website for months. DJI was already the biggest player in the game back then. The small, indie team at AirDog, on the other hand, is alive and well, and back with a new drone -- the ADII -- which takes the follow-me feature to (literal) new heights.
GoPro is testing its 360 VR camera with select broadcasters
It may not be out yet, but GoPro's Fusion 360 VR camera will soon be used to capture UFC fights, news footage, and awards ceremonies. To showcase the device's 5k resolution capabilities, GoPro is trialling the Fusion with partners such as Fox Sports, the Golden State Warriors, and USA Today.
GoPro's Fusion could make 360 video cool, if it nails the software
Yesterday GoPro CEO Nick Woodman presented the Fusion 360/VR camera to the world for the first time at Mountain Games in Vail, Colorado. The company teased an image about a month ago, but it turns out that was a bit of a trick. The deliberate use of lighting hid the true shape and form of the camera. Fusion is actually bigger than it looked. GoPro has long considered itself as having outgrown the "action cam" label, instead positioning itself as an enabler for stories beyond the reach of your phone's camera. Put in those terms, Fusion, and 360 video in general, could make more sense.
This is the GoPro Fusion: the company's all-in-one VR camera
GoPro surprised everybody when it teased its "Fusion" 360-degree action camera back in April. Mostly because GoPro rarely teases anything (Karma, perhaps being the exception), preferring to show up out of nowhere with a glossy release video and launch event. The half-reveal didn't tell us much, just that there was a camera coming in the fall, it had a resolution of 5.2K, a feature called "OverCapture" that would allow you to "punch out" a regular video from the spherical capture and well, that was kinda it.
