Drones

Earlier today, a report explained that Apple was among a handful of companies who had applied for government permission to test drone usage beyond current FAA limits. Now, Apple has officially commented on these plans…

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From Drone DJ:

The Skydio R1 drone has been years in the making but it is here now! Our sister site, Electrek, first wrote about it when one of the senior engineers left Tesla to join the then start-up drone company.

What makes the R1 drone unlike any other drone you’ve seen, is its advanced obstacle avoidance system, the Skydio Autonomy Engine. With 12 cameras, the R1 creates a 3D map of its surroundings and tries to predict the movements of its subject, i.e. a skier, runner, biker, up to 4 seconds into the future so that it can follow the subject while keeping it in the center of the frame and avoiding obstacles at the same time. Impossible you say? Wait until you watch the video below. This is obstacle avoidance at a whole new level. Sorry guys, but the bar has been raised with the R1 drone from Skydio.

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Have you always wanted to try out drone racing? Well, today is your chance! Parrot, the French drone company, just launched the Parrot Mambo FPV (First Person Race) drone. It promises to be a compact, ultra-light, agile and fun to fly mini-drone, that also provides a First Person View (FPV) race experience.

We have not yet had a chance to try one ourselves but we’re hoping to do so soon and report about it here. If it is anything like the DJI Spark in sports mode that we did a first impression of earlier, it should be a lot of fun to fly.

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When I finally gave in and bought a drone, the DJI Mavic Pro sold itself to me primarily on its portability. This was the first drone on the market that combined the ability to shoot high-quality footage with a form-factor that made it sufficiently portable for handbaggage-only travel.

I used it on weekend trips to both France and Portugal, as seen in my original review video. Sadly, it didn’t get to accompany me on a holiday in Havana. Doing a little research found that the Cuban government takes a dim view of anyone flying drones anywhere around the capital of Havana, where we were staying, so I had to leave it at home.

I have, though, found a couple of unexpected uses for it which I’ll get to shortly …

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Last Thursday I finally got my hands on the super-portable $500 DJI Spark and, as a photographer and drone enthusiast, it’s probably the most exciting iPhone accessory of the year. The Spark is such a small drone that you can take it with you anywhere and anytime, while it also has optics and stabilization features along with some impressive AI that produces impressive imagery and video.

They say that the best camera is the one you have in your pocket. Having a drone that you can easily bring along on trips opens up a whole new world of possibilities. That’s what gets me the most excited…

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As drones continue to rise in popularity, the ultra-portable Hover Camera Passport today became available from Apple.com and in Apple retail stores. Created by Zero Zero Robotics, the Hover Passport is a lightweight drone made from a carbon fiber material, so it’s portable and easy to take with you everywhere you go.

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Incase has a brand new collection of bags and cases launching this week designed specifically for carrying drones and drone accessories. My favorite in the collection is the Drone Pro Pack which is a full-blown backpack for DJI Phantom drones and everything you need to capture and edit aerial footage. In total there are four new drone bags in the collection:

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iPhone-controlled drones have become popular lately for capturing stunning video like Apple’s Campus 2 in addition to offering pure recreational fun, and AT&T has a vision for how drones could go further and actually improve the LTE connection to your iPhone.

While detailing how the network is already using drones in the field, AT&T imagines a future where drones could be used as cellular repeaters to provide boosted LTE signals in temporarily packed venues and other hard-to-reach locations where towers may not be enough:

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Choosing holiday gifts for the techies in your life isn’t always easy, so we’ve put together a series of gift guides to give you plenty of ideas. These include category guides, like making music, smart home and in-car, as well as across personal recommendations from the rest of the 9to5Mac team – with more to follow.

For my personal guide, I’ve opted for a mix of the fun and the functional – ranging from action cams and drones to backup drives. Mix-and-match to the personalities of your lucky gift recipients as appropriate … 
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