Like the PlayStation 5 before it, Sony has eked out specifications and teasers for its next-generation virtual reality hardware. We saw the controllers a while back (which have now been further refined, and color-swapped to white), but finally the headset itself is breaking cover.
Sony
It suitably matches the aesthetic of the latest PlayStation: all whites, curves and soft lines. It still carries the DNA of Sony’s first VR headset, but looks even more slender. The spherical profile apparently represents the users’ 360-degree view they’ll experience.
PlayStation SVP Hidekai Nishino noted that ergonomics were a major focus, with a new lens adjustment dial to help users ensure good eye comfort and a design that will offer improved airflow when you’re strapped in. The bad news is the lack of news on launch dates and prices. Rumors have pointed to a late 2022 reveal. At least that’s this year.
Virgin Hyperloop will exclusively focus on moving cargo, and has slashed almost half of its total workforce. A spokesperson confirmed to the Financial Times that the shift away from passengers was taking place, with supply chain issues and COVID contributing to the change.
Since its inception, the company has been developing its vacuum-tube system to carry both passengers and freight. One of the earliest concepts VH floated was an “inland port,” in which cargo vessels would put containers onto capsules that are shot inland before they’re processed.
Is DJI actually the most innovative camera company in the world?
Engadget
We don’t review many cinema cameras, but DJI’s latest, with LiDAR autofocus, a Z-arm stabilizer and much, much more, deserved some attention. Associate Editor Steve Dent put it to work. The Ronin 4D isn’t entirely perfect. It weighs a lot and there’s a rolling shutter effect at play too, but there’s nothing else out there that can rival its tech and design. It’s surprisingly easy to operate, offers good image quality and is seemingly designed to make cinematic recording easier for you. Take a closer look.
You’ll need $90 and a Premium subscription to use it.
Spotify’s Car Thing first debuted last April after breaking from cover nearly two years prior. Back then, you needed to be part of a select few to get one. In October, the company expanded its invite list for all users in the US. Yesterday, Spotify announced that the Car Thing is available for anyone in the States to purchase directly from the company. The device is $89.99 and requires a Premium subscription for you to be able to use it in your car. Car Thing is essentially a Spotify box for most cars — so long as you have an aux jack or Bluetooth connectivity. Oh and a power source. Intrigued? We put one to the test here.
The birds displayed rare cooperative “rescue” behavior.
Dominique Potvin et al.
Dominique Potvin, an Animal Ecology professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia, said he and his team recently witnessed a mischief of magpies display a rare cooperative “rescue” behavior when they attempted to track the birds. The researchers made a lightweight but tough tracking harness the birds could wear like backpacks. They also created a feeding station that would wirelessly charge and download data from the trackers. It even had a magnet for freeing the birds of the harness. Within 10 minutes of Potvin’s team fitting the final tracker, they saw a female magpie use her bill to remove a harness off of one of the younger birds. Hours later, most of the other test subjects had been freed of their trackers too. Better luck next time, scientists.
An owner claims it knew about a bug that allowed ape purchases far below market value.
A man who unknowingly sold his Bored Ape NFT for a pittance is suing OpenSea, claiming it knew about a flaw in its platform that allowed hackers to buy unlisted NFTs at a fraction of the market price, decrypt has reported. Timothy McKimmy alleged in a complaint that he didn’t even list his Bored Ape #3475 for sale, but a hacker managed to buy it for just .01 ETH ($26) before turning around and selling it for 99 ETH ($250,000 at current prices). He claims that despite the bug being widely reported in the media, OpenSea refused to halt trading.
Spotify’s Car Thing, a dedicated player for the streaming service, first debuted last April after breaking from cover nearly two years prior. Back then, you needed to be part of a select few to get one. In October, the company expanded its invite list for all users in the US, but there was still a queue to wait in. Today, Spotify announced that the Car Thing is available for anyone in the States to purchase directly from the company. The device is $89.99 and requires a Premium subscription for you to be able to use it in your car, but you no longer need an invite to buy it.
As a refresher, Car Thing essentially a Spotify box for most cars — so long as you have an aux jack or Bluetooth connectivity. You’ll also need easy access to a power source for the player. Car Thing then connects to your phone via Bluetooth and acts as a touch-screen controller for the Spotify app, just in a more car-friendly form.
There are plenty of easy to navigate menus, all of your favorites and a slew of convenient controls — including programmable preset buttons, a rotating dial and the company’s own voice assistant. Think of it as one of those satellite radio receivers from the early aughts, only designed for the streaming age. It’s built for die-hard users of the service, and it frees up your phone screen to stay on Waze or Google Maps even when you’re scrolling over to another podcast.
DJI’s announcement of the Ronin 4D last year shook things up with features never seen on a cinema camera. It had a full-frame sensor, up to 8K RAW video, one of the first vertical stabilization arms and a LiDAR system that can handle not only focus but gimbal control.
However, things have changed a bit recently. Most crucially, the Ronin 4D is no longer available with Apple ProRes RAW video now that it has gone on sale. Because of that, DJI has also lowered the base price of the 6K model from $7,200 to $6,800.
The Ronin 4D is not without other flaws like excessive weight and rolling shutter, too. Still, there’s nothing else out there that can remotely rival its tech and design. DJI might be best known for drones, but is it actually the most innovative camera company in the world?
Design
Steve Dent/Engadget
The Ronin 4D is a complex product, so let’s take a look at the features and design. First up is the “Zenmuse X9” mirrorless camera designed exclusively for the R4D. I’m testing the 6K version, but DJI plans to release an 8K model later on.
It has a full-frame 24-megapixel sensor and choice of three mounts: DJI’s own DL mount, a Sony E-Mount, and the M-mount used for Leica rangefinder/mirrorless cameras.
DJI has three native lenses including 24mm, 35mm and 50mm models, all with f/2.8 maximum apertures. They’re all pretty lightweight at 180 grams each as they’re designed for gimbal use, and cost $1,199 each – very expensive for f/2.8 prime lenses.
You can also mount Sony and M-mount glass, but lenses have to be relatively small or you can’t balance them correctly. That’s not a huge limitation as it would be pretty unusual to use a telephoto lens on a gimbal.
You can even mount manual lenses and get autofocus via DJI’s optional focus module controlled by the LiDAR system. Finally, it has an incredible nine ND filter levels that give you maximum exposure control, letting you crank open the iris even in bright sunlight.
The main camera gimbal has three axes of movement with quick-release locks for swift balancing. The standout feature, though, is the Z-arm that gives it the “4D” name – one of the first on a gimbal, according to DJI. It uses an internal balancing system combined with multiple motion detection sensors on the front and buttons that help it smooth out walking, running or other jarring vertical movements.
On the right side of the body you’ll find HDMI, time code and DC power ports. On the left are switches to control power, recording, the main gimbal and the Z-axis, along with a multi-dial that controls focus by default. However, it can also be programmed for other functions like gimbal control.
Steve Dent/Engadget
For storage, you can use either a CF express card, external SSD over the USB-C port (much like recent Blackmagic cameras), or DJI’s ProSSD module. The latter is a paid $799 upgrade, but required for high video frame rates. It’s nice to have the three options, particularly the external SSD, but you can only record on one of those at a time – so there’s no way to create a backup while recording.
The Ronin 4D has multiple removable modules, starting with the strong top handle. It’s a good way to hold the camera if you want a low angle, so it’s equipped with a rocker switch to adjust the gimbal (height only) and a button to put it in “sport” mode for quick movements. What it really needs is a record button, though, so you don’t have to reach around to the side.
Attached to that handle is the 5.5-inch, 1,000 nit display that’s the primary way to change camera and gimbal settings. It’s easy to adjust the viewing angle thanks to the nice friction mount, and has a super-logical menu system similar to the one on Blackmagic’s cameras.
It can be operated either via touch or with the 14 manual buttons and dial. Camera settings like f-stop and shutter speed are found along the top and bottom of the display. Power, media, gimbal and other controls are on the left.
Steve Dent/Engadget
Next up are the camera grips. Both attach via a quick-release lever, and you can change the angle to adapt to your working style with another clever lever – even while you’re holding on to it.
The left grip has a joystick to move the main gimbal up and down or side to side, along with buttons for focus and gimbal tracking. The exposure button brings up the waveform, zebra and other tools depending on what you have selected, while the trigger button locks the gimbal or centers it with a double press. Finally, there’s another sport mode button on the inside of the handle.
The right handle has a large wheel that’s primarily used for focus, but also changes camera settings like the ND filter, shutter speed and iris when you hit the “mode” button. Doing that also ingeniously changes the wheel’s operation from smooth to “clicky” with distinct detents. It also has a focus assist button and AF lock button, while the trigger either locks the Z arm or activates/deactivates it with a double press.
Steve Dent/Engadget
You also have the option to mount an optional $399 transmitter at the back that relays video to the High-Bright 7-inch, 1,500 nit remote monitor that’s also optional ($1,699). It lets you not only view video but control many camera and gimbal functions from up to 20,000 away. To do that, you can remove the left and right grips normally used on the camera and attach them to the screen.
It can also record proxy video at up to 1080/60p via the built-in microSD card slot, though that function was not enabled in my review unit. However, I was able to record video to an Atomos Ninja V recorder via the HDMI port.
Also at back is the battery plate that uses DJI’s TB-50 batteries. Those deliver 1-2 hours on a charge depending on operation, according to DJI, but I usually found they were good for just over an hour with active gimbal use.
Finally, the LiDAR focus module is attached above the camera and connected via a locking USB cable. With supported lenses, you get both autofocus and tracking – more on that shortly.
Operation
Steve Dent/Engadget
I was pretty intimidated by all these features to start with, thinking it would be a bear to learn the Ronin 4D. However, it was surprisingly easy to pick up the basic operation and then gradually learn the more granular controls. My photographer friends who helped me shoot the video found the same thing.
Balancing the camera is easier than on any gimbal I’ve tried, as everything is right there in front of you. You just unlock each axis one at a time, unlock it using the quick release controls and slide the gimbal until it’s balanced. Once that’s set, DJI’s “autotune” feature takes care of the fine balance.
You can then turn on the 4D Z-arm for walking or other situations where the gimbal may bounce, but it’s by no means required for simple handheld operation. If you don’t need it, keeping it shut off will save you some battery life. If you do use it, you’ll need to balance for the smoothest operation, but that’s easily done via an on-screen guide.
The gimbal can be set so that it always points the same way or (“locked”) or set in “follow” mode to smoothly follow the operator’s movement. In the latter mode, can set it follow only pan, pan and tilt, or pan, tilt and roll (FPV). The camera can be manually tilted or panned using the joystick, then centered using the C1 button or double pressing the left trigger.
The Z-arm has similar lock and follow modes, with “lock” keeping the camera in the same position. If you move the camera more than the arm’s range of movement, though, you risk smacking the arm against its top or bottom stops. “Follow,” again, allows the Z-arm to smoothly follow your movements.
Steve Dent/Engadget
The LiDAR focus system is impressive, and could be something we’ll see on future cameras if they can shrink it down small enough. It works at a distance of around 33 feet by generating a real-time 3D point cloud.
You can choose between either manual focus, autofocus or assisted manual focus. AMF uses autofocus but also moves the manual focus dial. That way, you can take control by just grabbing the wheel, and give control back by releasing it.
There are three focus areas, or regions of interest as DJI calls them. The first is spot focus, the second is a wide box and the third is “smart” that detects faces or lets you draw a box to track objects.
Focus needs to be calibrated for each supported lens, but once set up, it’s very accurate. Unlike standard autofocus systems, it can work in the dark. The biggest drawback compared to phase or contrast detect AF is that it focuses on the front of a scene, so someone’s nose might be in focus but not their eyes.
You can even set up LiDAR autofocus with manual focus lenses using the LiDAR motor kit. That would normally require a geared cinema lens, but the kit comes with a geared belt you can wrap around other lenses that don’t have that. I tested it briefly with a Sony 28mm f/2.0 lens (with the AF turned off) and found it was reasonably accurate, though it required multiple calibrations.
Steve Dent/Engadget
DJI has plenty of tools for manual focus, too, like peaking. But the best one is the LiDAR focus waveform that shows an object’s shape and distance. After some practice, I was wondering how I ever managed to do manual focus without it.
One of the coolest features enabled by the LiDAR module is ActiveTrack Pro, similar to that found on DJI’s Mavic 3 and other drones. That lets you lock onto a subject and have the gimbal track it while also maintaining autofocus. It automatically detects faces when in “smart” mode, and from there, you just press the track button on the right handle. That turns the yellow box into a green box, indicating that ActiveTrack is alive. You can track other types of subjects simply by drawing a box on them.
The feature works very well, keeping your subject framed exactly as you set it up. It tracks human subjects well even if you move behind or to the side of them. If something goes wrong, the framing can also be tweaked manually using the left trigger. It can get thrown if your subject moves too fast, though, as the camera can only pivot and tilt so quickly.
On the whole, the Ronin 4D delivers smoother footage than any comparable product I’ve tried – even over challenging terrain. The ActiveTrack Pro feature is particularly welcome, as it allowed me to take my eyes off the subject to see where I was going while still maintaining the desired framing.
ProRes RAW is not supported at launch
Steve Dent/Engadget
Finally, let’s look at the video specs and quality. Originally, the Ronin 4D was announced with ProRes RAW along with ProRes HQ and H.264 10-bit recording. However, DJI announced that the RAW option would not be available at launch, even though it worked perfectly when I tested it. The company didn’t say why, but the cinema camera company RED has a patent on that technology that all users must license.
Instead, it’s shipping with Apple ProRes 4444 XQ. That’s a very high quality codec, but it doesn’t offer the advantages of ProRes RAW – particularly the ability to keep the original, pristine sensor data.
Both ProRes options do deliver good quality, but also gobble up storage quickly. The H.264 10-bit option is more efficient, but not very edit friendly – so it would be nice to have something in between those.
You can record up to 6K at 48 fps or 4K at 96 fps using the full width of the sensor, in all codecs. Anything above that, including 6K at up to 60 fps and 4K at 120 fps will introduce a Super 35 crop.
The Ronin 4D’s 24.1-megapixel sensor has dual native ISOs at ISO 800 and 5000, with a claimed 14 stops of dynamic range. Image quality is right up there with other cameras I’ve tested lately, like the Panasonic S1H, Sony A7S III and Canon EOS R3.
Steve Dent/Engadget
In RAW mode with Log settings enabled, it delivers crisp, color accurate video that’s easy to adjust in post. It’s not quite as good in low-light as the EOS R3 or other recent mirrorless cameras, but video is usable up to around ISO 6400, up to ISO 12,800 if you’re careful with exposure. Beyond that, noise can get excessive, particularly with highly saturated reds and blues.
The biggest drawback with the sensor is rolling shutter. While it’s not worse than models with similar sensors like Panasonic’s S1, it’s excessive for a camera that’s designed for movement. Another current issue is audio, as the 3.5mm mic jack isn’t up to snuff for production needs. However, DJI is addressing that with an upcoming module with more production-friendly XLR inputs.
Considering that the Zenmuse X9 is DJI’s first full-frame camera, the image quality is shockingly good overall. It might even make sense for DJI to release the camera separately in some form, as the Ronin 4D form factor isn’t practical for non-gimbal shooting. That way, productions could more easily match up footage.
Wrap-up
Steve Dent/Engadget
In sum, the Ronin 4D is an impressive piece of technology that could change the way producers think about handheld shooting. DJI has created a new product class and invented technology like LiDAR-powered ActiveTrack Pro and assisted manual focus. At the same time, it delivers full-frame image quality with no compromises, apart from the rolling shutter.
So is DJI the most innovative camera company right now? I haven’t seen anything else that can match the level of technical innovation on the Ronin 4D. It’s even hard to compare the Ronin 4D to other products, because it essentially has no peers. And for a first-generation product, the design and build quality is astonishingly good.
With a $6,800 price tag (and more like at least $8,000 properly kitted out), the Ronin 4D is a pretty niche product – though it’s easily worth that price. Even if it doesn’t sell widely, though, it’s a technical tour de force that has put other camera manufacturers, cinema and otherwise, on notice. If DJI keeps innovating at its current pace, that sleepy world could get a lot more interesting.
Disney’s chief corporate affairs officer Geoff Morrell posted a tweet on Tuesday about the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy attraction at Epcot in Walt Disney World. And while the tweet seemed innocent enough at first glance, Morrell may have spilled some sensitive secrets, at least by Disney standards.
Apple’s 2021 MacBook Pros offer incredible performance thanks to the latest M1 Pro and Max chips, while the return of certain key ports makes them more practical than ever. If you’ve been looking for one but have been put off by the price, the 14-inch 1TB model just fell to a new all-time low at Amazon. You can pick up the 1TB M1 Pro model with a 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU and 16GB of RAM for just $2,229, or $270 off the regular price.
With an Engadget review score of 92, the 2021 MacBook Pros were among the best laptops of the year. That’s due in large part to the 2nd-gen M1 Pro/Max CPUs that can keep up with and even outperform models equipped with Intel and AMD chips, while delivering up to 12 hours of battery life. They also offer good GPU performance for content creation and light gaming.
Along with the three Thunderbolt 4 ports, you get HDMI, MagSafe power, a headphone jack and an SD card slot. Apple has also ditched the butterfly keyboards in favor of more reliable ones, while adding in a high-resolution 1080p Facetime webcam. Finally, the 14-inch Liquid Retina XDR display delivers 3,024 x 1,964 resolution, up to 1,600 nits of brightness and a 120Hz refresh rate. Some folks may not like the screen’s notch, however, and the lack of upgradeable memory and storage are also downsides.
If you don’t need 1TB of storage (Thunderbolt 4 certainly makes upgrading that easy), Amazon is also offering a deal on the base 512GB model. Apart from the smaller SSD and a slightly less powerful M1 Pro CPU and GPU (8-core CPU and 14-core GPU), it has similar specs to the 1TB model and is considerably cheaper — just $1,799, or $200 off the regular price.
We’ve come across a ton of news in the past of how researchers were researching various ways and techniques to improve battery life. Right now, lithium-ion is still pretty much the default choice of material for batteries, but there are disadvantages to the tech, such as losing its charge over time, prone to catching on fire, and so on.
However, we haven’t really seen any of those advancements make its way into a commercial device yet, so the next best thing would be to just charge our phones really fast, and Realme could have something interesting on their hands that they will be debuting at MWC 2022 that is scheduled to kick off at the end of the month.
Not much is known about this charging tech, but the rumors are claiming that it could support charging as fast as 165W. That’s a lot of power and that is considerably more than what other companies are offering, like Xiaomi’s 120W HyperCharge technology. At 120W, Xiaomi claims it can charge a phone from 0% to 100% in just 15 minutes, so you can imagine how much faster a 165W charger could be.
In any case, more details should be revealed at Realme’s presentation at MWC 2022, so check back with us on the 28th of February for all the details.
In order to mine for cryptocurrency, miners require very powerful rigs that involve the use of high-end, powerful GPUs. Due to the craze surrounding bitcoin and other types of crypto, many miners have been snapping up these GPUs in bulk, leaving gamers with inflated prices.
To try and put a stop to this, companies like NVIDIA tried to implement software such as hash rate limiters that were designed to prevent GPUs from being used for mining, but it turns out that it isn’t enough because NVIDIA’s RTX 30-series hash rate limiter has since been bypassed.
According to a report from MyDrivers, the Nvidia RTX LHR v2 Unlocker from Sergey tool allows users to modify their RTX 30-series BIOS and drivers so that it no longer lowers the hash rate when Ethereum mining has been detected. This effectively allows miners to use the GPUs for mining without running into any issues.
That being said, hopefully NVIDIA is aware of this and are working on ways to either introduce new and more robust software to prevent this, or find some way to improve the supply of GPUs. The latter might be a bit tricky due to the global chip shortage, so gamers shopping for new GPUs will unfortunately still have a hard time finding a good deal on a GPU.
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