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DJI updates Mavic Pro to make less noise with longer flying time

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We’ve been expecting an update to the DJI Mavic Pro for quite some time now. Released almost a year ago, the Mavic has proven to be extremely popular. People expected DJI to take the Mavic in a similar route to the Phantom. That is to have a few different models in the range with different features. Now, DJI have finally announced the DJI Mavic Pro Platinum at the IFA trade show.

I have to say, it’s a little underwhelming. There are a couple of neat enhancements, though. Firstly, the flight time has been increased by 10%, which is about an extra 3 minutes. They’ve made it quite a bit quieter, too, reducing noise by 4dB. It’s also had a new paint job. Aside from that, though, it’s essentially the same drone.

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DJI offer $30,000 bounty to hack its products and find security threats

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Well, I guess now we know why the US Army pulled all of its DJI products from service. DJI have removed the JPush plugin from the DJI Go and DJI Go 4 apps. It turns out that it had been collecting user data without its knowledge. Not without the user’s knowledge, without DJI’s knowledge. DJI blame the third party developer who created the JPush plugin.

The Verge reports that JPush wouldn’t have needed to collect a lot of  data to do its job. But DJI say the app actually collected personal information, including a list of apps installed on the user’s Android device. In addition to this update, they’ve also announced a bug bounty programme rewarding up to $30,000 for those who can find exploits in their systems.

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DJI will soon let you fly their drones without internet data transfer to protect data privacy

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Not long after US Army banned DJI drones for “cyber vulnerabilities,” the leading drone manufacturer announced launching the new “local data mode.” It will allow users to fly without transferring data, in order to enhance security and data privacy. Although it’s not officially related to the US Army’s decision, DJI Vice President of Policy and Legal Affairs, Brendan Schulman, says that this feature is aimed at customers who use DJI technology to perform “sensitive operations.”

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US Army ends DJI drone usage over “cyber vulnerabilities”

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Well, it looks like the US Army aren’t to happy with DJI, after releasing a memo stating their discontinued use of DJI products. They quote “cyber vulnerabilities” as the reason, although they don’t say specifically what those vulnerabilities are.

What’s interesting is that it doesn’t seem to target a specific drone. In fact, while it does mention “DJI Unmanned Aircraft Systems”, the ban doesn’t seem to be restricted to just drones, at all. The memo specifically states that the Army must “halt use of all DJI products”.

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How the DJI Spark with the official controller competes with the DJI Mavic Pro

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We’ve seen a couple of videos now comparing the DJI Spark, but only using a phone as the controller. This means it has pretty limited range, and the handling isn’t that great. Of course, there is a separate controller available for the Spark, but it’s been “coming soon” since release. So, nobody’s tried it. Until now.

Not surprisingly, Casey Neistat is one of the first to get his hands on the Spark controller. In this video he puts it head to head with his Mavic Pro. This is something he’s done before with a prototype unit. But now he has the retail release and it comes with the controller. Is it worth the extra cost? Or should you just save for a Mavic? Casey’s video should help to answer that question.

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DJI will severely limit your drone’s capabilities if you don’t register with them

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DJI haven’t wasted any time, have they? No sooner did the FAA announce that hobbyists would no longer need to register their drones did DJI step in and say “Well, actually, you do”. DJI have announced that they’re going to be crippling drones pretty severely if they’re not registered with them. The changes come as part of new firmware updates for their drones. It’s also coming to future versions of the DJI Go and DJI Go 4 apps.

The changes, set to take effect at the end of this week, are to ensure you’re using appropriate geospatial information. All existing flight safety limitations, like geofencing and altitude limits, will stay the same. But, until you register, you won’t be able to fly more than 50m (164ft) away from you, and no more than 30m (98ft) high. And it covers all the popular DJI drones, like the Phantom 4 range, and Mavic Pro.

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DJI offers $145,000 for finding drone pilots who disrupted flights in China

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Between April 14 and 21, drone pilots were flying near Chengdu Shuangliu Airport in China. Their recklessness caused more than 100 flights to make unscheduled landings or returns, and these changes affected over 10,000 passengers.

DJI, the world’s leading drone manufacturer, puts a bounty on the drone pilots. They offer up to 1 million yuan ($145,000) reward for any clues that could lead to the perpetrators.

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DJI and Hasselblad’s “new” aerial photography platform is a flying 100MP medium format camera

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DJI have just announced the “World’s First 100-Megapixel Integrated Aerial Photography Platform”. And it’s a beast of a rig. Made with a DJI Matrice 600 with Ronin-MX gimbal and Hasselblad H6D-100c, it’s definitely a force to be reckoned with. But it’s not really a “World’s First” anything, or even all that new. It uses a drone that you can already buy, a gimbal you can already buy, and a camera you can already buy.

It’s essentially a 100MP upgrade to their previous medium format drone which houses the Hasselblad A5D. I am a little surprised it’s using the same Ronin-MX as the previous drone, given the recent Ronin 2 announcement. Although the Ronin-MX is no slouch, either.

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