Drones

It’s not quite that fake story about an AI drone killing its handler to circumvent its directives, but this passage tells a similar story about surprising, if less problematic, AI problem-solving:

Amazon has been struggling to get its drone delivery program off the ground. While the company projected it would send 10,000 deliveries by the end of this year, CNBC reported that it had only made 100 deliveries as of May.

Every city and state has to decide how much drone surveillance is appropriate, and the ACLU’s just-published overview of law enforcement drone surveillance fears can help bring you up to speed on the nuances.

Until one day, there was an intense passing storm, which resulted in some of the best clips I’ve ever gotten on a drone. Putting myself at risk for content every single day! Sort of.

Come hang! And tell me which drone you’re flying these days? Do you have a reason to upgrade?

The new, denser 3,938mAh battery packs ($400 each) enable the increased flight time, along with a new lighter-weight Gremsy gimbal ($4,000) that is designed for more accurate imaging in industrial applications. It works better with smaller lenses like the 24mm f/2.8 G.

And with Sony’s new RTK kit ($4,000) the Airpeak can be controlled more reliably and accurately, especially around areas of strong interference — think wind turbines. It also enables repeat missions with centimeter-accurate positioning compared to the previous meter-accurate GNSS system.

A team of researchers designed the “ornithopters” to resemble a flying bird in hopes they can be used to stealthily study wildlife — and maybe spy on people and foreign militaries. The team acknowledged to New Scientist that it should “look into research policies for dealing with dead birds before getting more ambitious,” though.

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy got our first in-person look at the device, along with a lot of Amazon’s other upcoming smart home gear, at CES 2023 this week.

Bry also wouldn’t confirm or deny if Skydio worked with Snap on its discontinued Pixy drone, or whether it’ll ever build a smaller drone of its own.

According to Australian news outlet WAtoday, each drone cost about $1,300. “I am trying not to think about it, but it was an expensive show for us,” Joshua Van Ross, the managing director of the show told WAtoday.