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EV maker Karma wants to power electric cars with a methanol fuel cell
Karma is working on something different from its normal EVs — hydrogen cars that use methane as a base fuel.
Hitting the Books: The spectacular financial failures of Fisker Automobiles
The Fisker failure is a perfect example of how government-funded innovation can go terribly wrong. The suit was settled in Fisker’s favor. Company CEO Henrik Fisker’s explanation? In March 2012, Consumer Reports published a scathing review of the Fisker Karma.
Karma's first all-electric car is a souped-up Revero
Karma's upcoming Revero GTE will go completely electric with up to 400 miles of range.
Karma will unveil an electric pickup truck in late 2020
Karma is more than a little eager to capitalize on the fervor for electric pickup trucks. The former Fisker brand (not to be confused with the Fisker making the Ocean) has revealed that it will show an electric pickup truck concept near the end of 2020. While details are scarce, the truck will be based on a new all-wheel drive platform and will cost less in production form than the $135,000 of its Revero luxury sedan hybrid. The AWD platform will also be used for an upscale SUV, although there weren't further details for that model.
GoPro's fix for grounded Karma drones is coming 'within a week'
GoPro has found the problem that grounded its Karma drones with some kind of 2K20 GPS bug since the beginning of the year, it said in a blog post. Better still, the company is now testing a fix and expects to release a firmware update "within a week" that will resolve the problem.
GoPro Karma drones are unable to fly due to a possible GPS flaw
The new year hasn't started well if you're a GoPro Karma owner. Numerous operators have found themselves unable to fly since the start of 2020, with the robotic aircraft reporting that it has no GPS signal and can't calibrate the compass, even when the controller is working properly. One user claimed to have discovered a workaround by resetting the controller and disabling GPS, but that clearly isn't ideal.
Karma's latest supercar concept boasts neck-snapping power
Karma builds very fancy, very sleek luxury cars. The Revero GTS and SC2 concept vehicles unveiled at the LA Auto Show are no different. Both cars seem like the type of vehicle a crime-fighting billionaire would drive on their day off.
GoPro faces uncertain future as holiday sales disappoint
The holidays were not kind to GoPro. The action camera company had already issued an earnings warning in January, dropping its projected Q4 revenues from $470 million to $340 million, that's a 37 percent year-over-year decline. The holidays were so dreadful, in fact, that GoPro has since decided to abandon its drone pursuits and a fifth of its workforce, roughly 300 positions. That said, the company did earn $1.18 billion in 2017, flat year-over-year, and the staff reductions did help drop GoPro's operating expenses by 30 percent, which left the company with $247 million in cash and marketable securities at the end of the year. That's $50 million more than it had on hand at the end of Q3.
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.
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.
Karma's anonymizing LTE hotspot arrives January 15th
Want to keep your internet activity under wraps regardless of what device you're using or where you are? You won't have too much longer to wait. Karma has revealed that its anonymizing Karma Black LTE hotspot will ship on January 15th, with pre-orders open now. Spend $149 ($249 after January 15th), plus $20 per month for security services, and you'll get a portable router that encrypts all your internet traffic while masking your location and other potentially identifying data markers. You can use it to boost the privacy of your home connection, too, and there's the promise of feature expansions that include Tor anonymity network services, antivirus safeguards, ad blocking and parental controls.
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 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.
Karma's new hotspot gives users a cloak of invisibility
Personal hotspot hardware provider Karma has announced a new security-focused product, Karma Black. A specialized version of the company's KarmaGO hotspot device, Karma Black will provide anonymous browsing (Tor), an integrated Virtual Private Network (VPN), blacklisting and ad-blocking. KarmaGO allows users to establish a WiFi connection through 4G via a small portable device, either on a pay-as-you-go basis or through a monthly data plan -- it's particularly popular with business travellers. Karma Black will operate in the same way, but will act as an invisibility cloak for users, encrypting web activity and hiding physical location. It'll also provide beefier protection against intrusive advertising and viruses.
GoPro's $100 accessory puts Karma's gimbal (almost) anywhere
When GoPro launched Karma at the end of the last year, company CEO Nick Woodman was keen to point out that it's "So much more than a drone." That statement was mostly referring to the bundled handheld grip, which uses the stabilizer from the quadcopter, bringing smooth video to ground-based activities as well. Now, there's a new member of the Karma family, with the self-explanatory name of "Karma Grip Extension Cable." The accessory (pictured on the left, above) brings the gimbal's video-smoothing skills to even more points of view. Albeit at a price.
GoPro launches its Karma drone in the UK
GoPro's foray into drone development has been troubled, to say the least. The highly anticipated Karma launched in the US last October, only to be recalled a few weeks later. The reason? Some of them were falling out of the sky (eesh). As a result, GoPro never released the product in the UK. Until now, that is. Karma has finally arrived in Britain, as well as Spain, Italy and Germany. A full drone bundle, which comes with a Hero5 Black camera, will run you 1,400 euros, or £1,200 in the UK. Otherwise you can buy the quadcopter on its own for 1,000 euros, or £870. Notably, the Karma is more expensive than we thought. Originally, the complete bundle was given a £999 price tag in the UK, but it appears that's now risen by as much as £200. We've asked GoPro for the reason behind the price hike, but suspect it's Brexit-related.
GoPro's troubled Karma drone is back on sale today
Surprise! GoPro's Karma drone is back on sale. GoPro recalled Karma in the run-up to the holidays last year due to instances where drones were losing power mid-flight (not cool, obviously). In early January, the company cryptically "announced" that it would give details on Karma's return in early February.
GoPro CEO: Karma returning as the 'ultimate GoPro'
2016 was a tough year for GoPro. I spoke with the company's founder and CEO, Nick Woodman, about the challenges surrounding that Karma recall, how the company hopes to come back from that and future plans for 2017. Woodman wasn't shy about admitting the recall was "embarrassing." But he's optimistic that there's still a place for Karma. The company is determined not just to put it back on the market but make it more competitive than before with new features and updates -- potentially as soon as its relaunch (likely in February).
