Drones aren’t just fun toys anymore. Drones are changing…well, everything. Drones are delivering medical supplies in Africa, keeping school kids safe in Indiana and improving our understanding of tornado behavior in Texas.
And oh, the aerial photography. From shooting action sequences in “Game of Thrones” to changing the real estate game, it’s not enough just to capture aerial footage. That footage actually has to look brilliant too.
Drones are super-cool, super-fun — and often, super-expensive. For many of us, they can seem forever out of reach, and probably too complicated to learn. Not so with this feature-loaded, uber-portable, and very affordable camera drone.
Any Star Wars fan can relate to the dream of taking off in an X-wing. The best we could do in the old days was to play video games or mouth engine noises while running around the living room a toy starfighter. But it’s the future now, so anyone can live out their own Star Wars dogfights and chase scenes.
Drones are awesome. They’re also expensive, and tricky to fly, so it’s easy to feel stuck in the amateur league.
Apple Maps was a laughingstock when it launched, but it’s come a long way since then. Now Apple has been given approval to further improve the service using drones.
As part of the U.S. Transportation’s new drone program, Apple is allowed to capture images of North Carolina using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This will allow it to enhance its mapping services with more detailed images.
Apple is one of a number of big companies seeking permission to be part of a new U.S. drone testing program, launched by President Donald Trump last year.
With the government now opening up applications for the new program, Apple has joined other tech giants including Amazon, Intel and Qualcomm in applying. It’s not yet clear what Apple is interested in achieving with its drone ambitions, although companies such as Amazon have been outspoken about their desire to pursue drone deliveries.
A would-be photographer lost his drone while attempting a flyover of the Apple Park campus last weekend. After he lost control of the unmanned aerial vehicle, it crashed onto the solar panel-covered roof of Apple’s new circular headquarters.
Check out the Apple Park drone crash footage below.
Apple has no time for your drones! Yesterday was Apple’s annual investors meeting, and one of the attendees tweeted this photo of signage erected at Apple Park declaring it a “no drone zone.”
Given Apple’s insistence on privacy — and Tim Cook declaring that keeping Apple products under wraps is the “bane of [his] existence” — that’s not necessarily a surprise. Still, it does mean that Apple is seemingly none too happy about the myriad drone flyover videos which keep on showing up online.
The HomePod presales have begun, but we’ll tell you why Apple’s new smart speaker may be a huge flop, this week on The CultCast. Plus: Audiophiles are comparing HomePod’s tech to speakers that cost $85,000; Apple adds some long-awaited features to iOS 11; how to back up your iCloud photo library to your PC (and why you should). And we wrap with another episode of Drone Chat! This time, we’ll tell you why DJI’s Mavic Air is the perfect drone for almost everyone.
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This week, on a jam-packed, tech-tastic episode of The CultCast: We’ll tell you the weirdest, wackiest and most wonderful products revealed at CES 2018, the world’s craziest consumer electronics show. We’ve dug deep to bring you some strange ones!
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