Technology

The Sony World Photography Awards has revealed its professional winners and overall Photographer of the Year. In its 14th year, this prestigious competition delivers a strong assortment of images, from striking photojournalism to surreal landscapes.

Canon broke into the full-frame mirrorless camera space in 2018 with the launch of the EOS R system. A compact RP joined the lineup the following year, and prosumers got two models in 2020. Now a new flavor aimed at professionals is on the way.

The winners of the 7th Fine Art Photography Awards present a surreal assortment of shots from sci-fi styled snaps of subways to spectacularly sublime landscapes. We’ve handpicked our highlights from this year’s massive collection of celebrated images.

BAE Systems has been engaged by the US Army to deliver two evaluation prototype arctic field vehicles. Called Beowulf, the amphibious all-terrain vehicle is designed for moving soldiers and supplies to remote areas under the harshest conditions.

The US Air Force's long anticipated first powered flight test of the AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) hypersonic missile was scrubbed this week when the booster vehicle failed to launch from the B-52H Stratofortress bomber.

Like a high-tech Russian nesting doll, a prototype US Air Force Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie combat drone being developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory dropped a smaller drone from its weapons bay during flight.

Samsung has already unveiled its flagship and mid-range phones for 2021. But just how much of a difference is between them? New Atlas compares the specs and features of the Samsung Galaxy A52, A52 5G and A72 versus the Galaxy S21, S21+ and S21 Ultra.

Sony has three new phones to show off: the flagship Xperia 1 III, the more compact Xperia 5 III, and the more affordable Xperia 10 III. As is traditional for Sony handsets, the devices are particularly appealing in the camera and display departments.

If you misplace your iPhone, or someone makes off with it, Apple's Find My network can help zero in on its location so you can retrieve it. Now the application has been opened up to third-party products, and among the first are ebikes from VanMoof.

It was just a year ago that DJI announced its compact-but-capable Mavic Air 2 quadcopter. Now, the company has shortened the name and doubled the image sensor size, with the 5.4K/30fps-capable Air 2S.

The liquid-carrying tanks on tanker ships have to regularly be inspected for cracks – a task which is typically performed by humans. A new drone, however, is claimed to do the job much quicker and more thoroughly.

While aerial drones do show promise as a means of urban parcel delivery, their small size will limit them to carrying relatively light packages. An experimental new system, however, lets multiple drones team up to hoist heftier items.

The global pandemic has seen many business people and students working from home. As lockdowns ease, offices and schools are starting to reopen and LG is readying two projectors for release to help make boardroom and classroom presentations pop.

Bang & Olufsen shrugs off the blocky old persona of the average bookshelf speaker, and has instead launched a slim full-range model called the Beosound Emerge that can take its place well among the hardbacks and paperbacks on your library shelf.

China's Xgimi says that it's building on the success of its portable MoGo Pro DLP projector and sound system with the launch of two new flagship models, the Horizon and Horizon Pro all-in-one entertainment systems.

Playing the guitar is a great talent to have. But sometimes, you may want to practice without lugging your guitar everywhere you go. The PocketGuitar Bluetooth-Enabled AI Guitar allows you to play music anywhere, and connects right to your phone.

Disposable masks, like these masks from SureWay Health, that meet or exceed NIOSH certifications are designed to protect the wearer from airborne particles, whether they're germs, fine soot, or other floating matter.

If you're in the market for a new tablet for everyday use, the VANKYO MatrixPad Z10: 10" 3GB+32GB Tablet is an excellent contender. It sports a 10.1" IPS display, with a resolution of 1920x1200, and best yet, it's now price-dropped at 21% off.

The ivory trade has been banned for over 30 years now, which means that technicians restoring ivory artifacts have to get creative in finding alternative materials. A new 3D-printable substance known as Digory appears to fit the bill nicely.

When objects are being 3D printed, they often have to include supportive structures that are subsequently discarded. A new print bed, however, is designed to eliminate the need for such structures, thus reducing both waste and printing time.

On most consumer 3D printers, the print head moves by sliding horizontally along rails, and vertically along rods. The Plybot is different, though, in that it "holds" its head in two robotic arms.

Nvidia's newest Central Processing Unit has been unveiled, and it's quite a chip: offering a 10x performance leap over current solutions, it's focused on artificial intelligence calculations and natural language processing.

Elon Musk's startup Neuralink has shown off the latest version of its brain-machine interface, which a monkey uses to wirelessly play Pong with its mind, marking another step forward for the ambitious company.

Liquid cooling is one of the most effective ways to keep computers from overheating. Microsoft has now put a unique spin on the technique, demonstrating a system to cool its cloud servers by dunking the computers into a tank full of boiling liquid.

Just weeks after confirming a PlayStation 5 VR system is in development, Sony has now shown off the controllers. The new designs look lightyears ahead of the PS4’s clunky old sticks, and pack features from the PS5’s DualSense and Sony's competitors.

Imagine if you crossed a handheld gaming system with a Rubik's Cube. What you'd get is CubiOs Inc's WowCube, which is currently an honoree in the CES 2021 Innovation Awards.

As fun as board games are, they can be a fiddly to set up and expensive to keep buying the new ones. Arcade1Up's Infinity Game Table, currently on Kickstarter, digitizes dozens of classic games like Monopoly and Scrabble into a touchscreen table.

With many folks working from home thanks to the global pandemic, demand for laptops is on the rise. Asus has responded with the launch of a lightweight portable powerhouse named the ZenBook 13 OLED.

Californian startup Framework says that it was founded to provide quality products that can be customized, upgraded and repaired with ease. The company has today launched a 13.5-inch laptop aimed at ticking all of those boxes.

Sony's Vaio range of computers and laptops were always eye pleasers, but also pricey. The Vaio brand was sold off in 2014, and now a new Vaio Z laptop has surfaced that's wrapped in contoured carbon fiber and commands a starting price of US$3,579.

Last month, Fender launched its third Acoustasonic hybrid acoustic, and we got to play with the Jazzmaster and interview the company's R&D chief. Now Master Builder Ron Thorn has given the Custom Shop treatment to the guitar, and it's a beaut.

Pearl Jam's Mike McCready is perhaps most associated with a Fender Stratocaster, and his vintage '59 model is his most prized. So it was this instrument that was chosen for a very limited Custom Shop replica run. But not all was as it seemed.

Fender conceived the Acoustasonic as the "modern acoustic" guitar. Slim, lightweight and super easy to play, it's a digital twist on a familiar organic form. We spoke to Fender's VP of R&D about how this "transitional" guitar works and what it means.

Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have spent a number of years developing modular snake-like robots for all kinds of purposes, and the latest adaptation sees its serpent-inspired tech headed underwater.

Austrian startup Printstones has been developing robotic 3D-printing robots since 2017, and has just pulled back the curtain on its latest prototype, a mobile multi-tasking construction bot called the Baubot.

When studying underwater marine life, it helps if you can use a device that doesn't scare the animals by appearing unnatural to them. MIT scientists have created a robo-starfish with that in mind, utilizing a new rapid development system.

Google's Wear OS platform could certainly use some more actual smartwatches to run on, and Casio has obliged with the GSW-H1000 – the first G-Shock smartwatch from the brand to come with Wear OS on board.

As well as unveiling the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro flagship phones today, OnePlus has also debuted a brand new smartwatch, the OnePlus Watch. It's the company's second wearable after the OnePlus Band, which is currently only available in India.

The Fitbit Sense is the flagship device in the Fitbit range, the top device from one of the top names in wearables – and we've been trying to figure out whether or not it's worth the US$299.95 that you'll have to pay to get hold of one.

Stanford University scientists have conducted the first large survey into the modern phenomenon of "Zoom Fatigue." They found women suffer from greater exhaustion following videoconferencing compared to men, and the researchers think they know why.

A new study is challenging the common assumption that video conferencing is better than audio-only communication for collaborative group activities. The findings suggest video cues may in fact lower a group’s collective intelligence by disrupting interpersonal synchrony.

Lockheed Martin and Omnispace are teaming up to explore the technology needed to deliver 5G connectivity on a global scale by combining a constellation of non-geostationary orbital satellites and terrestrial mobile networks.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, more people than ever before are currently stuck sitting at their computers, using services like Zoom and Skype. The just-announced Wave for Work smart ring, however, is made to help free them up.

Autonomous vehicles and robots navigate with sensors and cameras – but visually-impaired people still get by with canes and guide dogs. Now, engineers have developed a wearable AI system that tracks obstacles and describes a person’s surroundings.

Luxury audio brand Master & Dynamic has announced a follow up to its MW07 true wireless earphones. The MW08 model brings a number of firsts for the company, including active noise cancellation.

Microsoft has won a 10-year contract to build advanced augmented reality systems for the US Army, giving infantrymen videogame-style super-soldier capabilities. A new production contract will net the company up to US$21.88 billion over ten years.

Facebook has taken the unusual step of revealing its next-gen augmented reality gear at a working prototype stage, including a staggering neuro-motor controller that reads nerve impulses in your wrist at single-neuron resolutions.

Video calls are handy, but you lose that sense of presence. To make remote meetups a bit more personal, Microsoft has unveiled Mesh, a “mixed reality” platform that lets people work and play together as virtual avatars overlaid on real-world spaces.