Technology

Earlier in the year, Olympus sold its imaging division to Japan Industrial Partners which was spun out to a new company, and its first product – the PEN E-P7 MFT camera – goes on sale in Europe later this month, but it won't be available in the US.

The 2021 Siena Creative Photo Awards proudly sits at the inventive and experimental end of the photography competition spectrum. This year’s winning selections showcase evocative visions spanning plastic waves, chic chameleons, and freaky forks.

Back in April, Canon dropped a few choice details about its upcoming pro-focused mirrorless flagship, the EOS R3. Now the company's drip feed continues with some more key specs, including improved tracking AF and internal recording of RAW video.

DARPA's Mobile Force Protection (MFP) program has developed a system designed to counter unauthorized drone intrusions over populated areas. The program sought a non-explosive approach and hit upon the idea of using drones that fire stringy streamers.

The United States Air Force and Space Force are looking at rockets as a way to send supplies to inaccessible war zones and disaster areas. Led by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Rocket Cargo Vanguard will look at ways that commercial rockets can be adapted for logistical missions.

With the aid of a Dutch De Zeven Provincien-class frigate, the US Navy destroyer USS Paul Ignatius used two Standard Missile-3 interceptors to destroy ballistic missiles while they were still in space during the Formidable Shield NATO sea exercises.

Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) has rolled around again, which means it's time for Apple to preview some of the changes coming to its software platforms later this year: iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS and more.

Since being frozen out of dealings with US companies, Huawei phones and other gadgets have been unable to run the full-fat version of Android, complete with Google apps and the Play Store. Now it's launched its own competitor: HarmonyOS.

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has demonstrated a new Hypercharge system that can charge phones at a monstrous 200 W through a wire, and 120 W wirelessly. Just three minutes on the charge cable is enough to get a large phone battery to 50 percent.

Back at CES 2021, Sony revealed plans to launch a new drone business called Airpeak that would be dedicated to taking its Alpha full-frame mirrorless cameras into the air. Now the first drone under that brand has been launched, the Airpeak S1.

For the first time ever, an un-crewed aircraft has successfully refuelled another aircraft while both planes were in flight. In the test, Boeing's MQ-25 T1 aerial tanker drone transferred jet fuel to a US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet.

Drone titan DJI has today added a new model to its recently launched Education division. The company aims to encourage robotics and AI tech learning with a package that includes a teeny drone, an intuitive mobile app and an exclusive curriculum.

Back in April, China's JMGO partnered with Leica for the optics of its upcoming O1 Pro ultra-short-throw LED projector. Details were somewhat lacking, but with the launch of the Indiegogo funding campaign we can now fill in some of the blanks.

XGimi promises its Halo throws "the sharpest picture you will ever see from a portable projector" – and while that may be optimistic, it impressed us with crisp 1080p visuals, voice-controlled Android TV, and a capable Harman Kardon audio system.

Music lovers who want to stream tunes from their smartphone to the home hi-fi or from the hi-fi to Bluetooth headphones might be disappointed. McIntosh Labs engineered the MB20 Bluetooth Transceiver to enable any hi-fi setup to do just that.

Getting started in the world of digital cryptocurrency can be overwhelming. Take on Blockchain development fast with The Cryptocurrency with Ethereum & Solidity Blockchain Developer Bundle and get up to speed on the latest technology.

If there's any part of your body that needs a break right now, it's your eyes. Face it, they do a lot for you and you've never shown them any gratitude. Let's change that with the AYOlite, a pair of glasses that'll give your eyes the TLC they need.

Nothing's worse than having everyone huddled around your phone while they should be steering clear of one another's germs. Instead, you can get all of your info blasted on the big screen from your phone instantly with the Galton TV AnyCast Stick.

For some time now, we've been hearing about scaffolding-like implants that encourage bone tissue or cartilage to grow back into areas where it's missing. Now, scientists have developed a method for more quickly and easily 3D-printing such implants.

Thanks to a steady rise in vinyl sales of late, turntables are returning to the living room hi-fi setup. But if you're a maker looking for something a bit different, Frame Theory 3D has just launched a 3D-printable turntable kit on Kickstarter.

The University of Alberta has developed a new technique for 3D printing cartilage in custom shapes. This can be used to repair the noses of skin cancer patients, saving them the trouble of having cartilage samples taken from other parts of the body.

By leveraging the wonder material graphene, a group at the University of Cambridge is claiming an advance in data storage that resembles more of a leap than a step forward. The team says the technology enables a ten-fold increase in data density.

Nvidia has unveiled its newest GPUs at Computex in Taiwan (or a pandemic-friendly virtual version of the expo, anyway.) The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the company’s new flagship card for gaming, while the 3070 Ti strikes a mid-range balance.

Reading the latest novel on an e-reader is much kinder on your peepers than doing so on a smartphone. Dasung is looking to bring the same kind of eye-friendly user experience to desktop computing with the launch of its Paperlike 253 E Ink monitor.

The Nintendo Switch may be portable, but its dock not so much. The OmniCentro, aims to solve that problem with a pocket-sized gizmo that fast-charges the battery and outputs the visuals to a display – upscaling the resolution to 4K in the process.

Microsoft has announced an update to its Xbox Games Pass cloud gaming platform for Android that turns one of the Surface Duo's dual screens into a virtual touch controller while the other displays the game.

Location-based augmented reality games are expanding into all kinds of avenues. Eastern Market Murder tasks players with solving a century-old true crime mystery in the actual locations where it all went down. New Atlas hit the streets to try it out.

Consumer electronics giant Acer was one of the first to release a laptop based on Google's Chrome operating system, which was aimed at people who work, learn and play online. Now the company is first out of the Chromebook gate with a 17-inch model.

Earlier this year we featured a refreshing idea to make a 13.5-inch laptop that's designed to be easily customized, upgraded and repaired by users. Ahead of its launch, Framework has now revealed more details.

Samsung has today revealed two new Galaxy Book laptops at a Galaxy Unpacked 2021 event. Despite being thin and light, the Pro and Pro 360 models boast powerful performance and are the company's first Windows machines to boast AMOLED displays.

We've seen 3D printing used to create a good many musical instruments over the years, including guitars, saxophones, violins and more. The latest to join the orchestra comes from education software company Sensio in the striking form of the MyCello.

We've seen a number of projects over the years that turn gestures and body movement into music, including the Fitbit-like Mictic and Beatjazz Hands. Now Sony is jumping on stage with a wearable effects generator for musicians called Motion Sonic.

There have been a number of attempts to add digital sound processing tech to analog guitars, including the Fusion and Acoustasonic Jazzmaster. The latest hybrid shredder comes from Shenzhen's Mooer Audio in the shape of the GTRS 800 Series.

As if the ray fishes weren't unusual enough already, it turns out that their sperm is also unique. Scientists have now created a robot inspired by those sperm, which may someday lead to smaller descendants that swim within the human body.

Besides being known for their cube-shaped droppings, wombats are also subject to the disease sarcoptic mange. In order to understand how the mange-causing mites are able to spread between wombats, scientists have developed a burrow-exploring robot.

According to Pennsylvania State University's Asst. Prof. Long He, the mushroom-farming industry is currently experiencing a labor shortage. His team has thus set about addressing that problem, by developing a mushroom-picking robot.

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.

We've already had plenty of announcements from the Google I/O 2021 developer event happening this week, but Google has also been showing off a 3D video conferencing app that it's working on called Project Starline.

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.

After lots of online chatter and a good many product leaks, Sony has officially revealed the WF-1000XM4 noise-canceling true-wireless in-ear headphones, with a brand new design that's better, smaller and lighter than the company's 2019 earphones.

Google has been readying a new version of its Pixel Buds true wireless earphones for a while now, but now the budget-friendly A-Series has finally been officially revealed – sporting custom drivers, improved connectivity, and access to Assistant.

MIT scientist Yoel Fink has been at the cutting edge of smart textile technology for more than a decade and has just made a significant breakthrough, demonstrating the first ever digital fabric-fiber that can store and process information.

Saab and Varjo Technologies are developing new low-cost, high-resolution mixed-reality tech for flight simulators to train fighter pilots. Called Bionic Display, it cuts the computing power required by taking advantage of the way the human eye works.

It's been a while since we saw a hardware update to the Vive line, but HTC has made up for it by launching two 5K-resolution virtual reality headsets at the same time: the PC-connected Vive Pro 2, and the standalone Vive Focus 3.

Although there are rigs that allow gamers to walk on the spot while their avatar walks in a VR environment, such setups tend to be large and complex. A new system, however, simulates walking simply by buzzing the seated user's feet.