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Teardown reveals the $749 DJI Mavic Air 2 is made from around $135 worth of parts

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This isn’t the first Mavic Air 2 teardown we’ve seen, that honour goes to the folks at iFixit, but a new teardown by Tokyo-based research specialist Fomalhaut Techno Solutions in partnership with Nikkei Asian Review certainly seems to be the most in-depth.

The complete teardown doesn’t appear to have been published publicly, but the Nikkei Asian Review has reported on some of its details. Details like the fact that it is comprised of around 80% off-the-shelf parts, and coming in at a total material cost of around $135.

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This lunatic is diving 18-story buildings with a $20,000 drone-mounted RED camera

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The world of FPV droning doesn’t typically have much to do with the more aesthetic, cinematic of drone filmmaking. At least, not usually. Well, not unless you’re Paul Nurk. Going by the name NurkFPV on YouTube (and Instagram), Paul is pretty obsessed with FPV. How obsessed? Well, he’s obsessed enough to build an FPV drone he could mount a RED Epic Mysterium-X to it.

The goals are to capture the speed and excitement of flying FPV, but at a much more cinematic way than FPV cameras typically allow. They’re usually pretty cheap stripped-down action cameras, essentially, with low resolution and terrible dynamic range. Strapping a RED to such a drone, though, is no easy task.

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The DJI Mavic Air 2 is actually super easy to fix

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The folks at iFixit have been working hard during the lockdown, including building a massive repository of repair information for ventilators and other devices to help those who need to repair life-saving equipment. But they’re also managing to keep up with their regular YouTube duties, too, still regularly posting teardowns and instructional videos to repair your personal devices.

Most recently, their latest video is the new DJI Mavic Air 2 drone; DJI’s follow-up to 2018’s popular Mavic Air. iFixit’s video takes the Mavic Air 2 apart to show how all of the major components fit together, and how easily they dismantle to provide access to pretty much every component contained within.

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Autel Robotics wins patent suit over DJI – Calls for stop of sale and import of most DJI drones

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Autel Robotics USA has won a pretty major victory over competing drone manufacturer DJI. The suit claimed that many of DJI’s consumer drones have been imported into the US and sold while infringing on Autel’s US Patent No. 9, 260,184. The international law firm, Steptoe, secured the win on March 2nd.

According to the infringement suit, DJI violated Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which essentially makes illegal any imports found to be infringing on a US Patent, and other unfair methods of competition.

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The Mavic Air 2’s object avoidance system looks like DJI’s best yet

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DJI recently announced the much anticipated Mavic Air 2 drone. It boasts an impressive feature set over its predecessor, with a whopping 48-megapixel 1/2″ sensor, 4K 60fps video, HDR video, a 10-kilometre range and a rather substantial 34-minute flight time. But how well does it actually work? How does it feel to use?

Well, with all the lockdown in place around the world at the moment, it’s difficult for those who have units to really get out and give it a good try. But in this video, iPhonedo does what he can, showing us what comes included with the kit, some footage shot with the camera and some tests of how the various tracking modes work (wich some very impressive obstacle avoidance).

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DJI’s new Mavic Air 2 has 34 minutes of flight time and shoots 8K timelapse

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After a few months of rumours, leaks and speculation, DJI has now officially announced the DJI Mavic Air 2, and it has a few pretty significant upgrades over its predecessor. It boasts a 48-megapixel camera capable of shooting 8K timelapse, 4K video at up to 60 frames per second, HDR video, and a very impressive 34-minute flight time.

The Mavic Air 2 seems to have all grown up in its latest iteration, seeing a Mavic 2-inspired design, looking a lot less like a toy than the original. Along with the new design is a standard grey colour scheme, rather than the array of bright colours available on the original.

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Draganfly is developing “Pandemic Drones” that can detect fever, coughing and other health aspects

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US drone manufacturer Draganfly has announced that they’re developing a drone system that can act as a “global early warning system” for signs of a pandemic. Its camera can detect signs of a fever, detect coughs and even breathing and heart rates through the use of deep learning AI.

You might not have heard of Draganfly, but they say that they’re the oldest commercial drone manufacturer in the world, with their first being sold in 1999. But they don’t make consumer drones like companies such as DJI. Their focus is more on the industrial, commercial and research sectors.

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Photographer creates goofy and emotional portraits of his friends in quarantine

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If you’ve been disciplined during the coronavirus outbreak, you probably haven’t seen your friends for a while. And if there’s one thing all of us in self-isolation have in common, it’s this: we miss out friends! Photographer Jared Gruenwald is one of us, and he came up with a way to make himself less lonely. He started taking portraits of his friends who are also in isolation, all from a safe distance. The result is a series of pretty unusual portraits: some are emotional, but the others are incredibly silly.

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Potential design flaw in the DJI Mavic Mini causes the propeller blades to hit the body

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DJI’s Mavic Mini made big news when it was announced in October, especially given that it was something so small. But being small and lightweight is exactly the point of the Mavic mini, weighing in at a mere 249g – 1g below the minimum limit required by many of the world’s governments before the operator requires licensing and regulation.

It looks like the DJI Mavic Mini might have something of a design flaw, though. Under certain conditions, particularly during Sport mode, the propeller blades seem to be able to hit the body of the drone. User djiuser_JXraXHrZCs7w posted images to the DJI community website along with a written note about the problem.

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I shot portraits of self-isolated families through their windows using my drone

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I took my drone and photographed people in their homes through their windows and on their terraces. It’s a 100% zero-human-contact way to see how people are going crazy during quarantine times.

When Lithuania went under quarantine, all my photography jobs in advertising were canceled, events postponed or canceled, and I was sitting without any job and thinking, “what the heck is going on and how can I solve this puzzle?” Eventually, I knew that I needed to photograph something interesting, but this social distance thing was a tricky thing.

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