With few events this week, things should have been quieter in the tech world. Then the US government had to move towards a DJI drone ban, which could have major consequences for both amateur and professional photographers.
Additionally, we saw the launch of CoPilot+ PCs with dedicated NPUs for AI tasks Legend of Zelda game that ultimately stars Zelda, and professional comedians tested AI’s joke writing skills. Spoiler: they weren’t good.
So let’s take a look at this week’s top news stories, and be sure to come back next Saturday for another ICYMI news roundup.
7. An American DJI drone ban has come one step closer
The US government’s tendency to ban technology and innovation from unfriendly countries extends beyond TikTok and to the flyers, or more accurately, DJI drones.
If you fly a drone in the US, you use or know a DJI drone. The China-based company essentially built the drone market in the US and owns about 75% of it. But now a bill is making its way through the halls of Congress that could ban the sale and use of DJI drones in the US.
The reasoning is simple. Companies operating in China or closely associated with the communist country are often forced to share their data and technology with the communist party government. For the US, that’s a huge red flag, and now officials are getting serious about protecting Americans from spying eyes, as they might tell you.
When it comes to drones, you can almost understand the US government’s concern. The flyers communicate not only with pilots on the ground but also with the cloud, sometimes sending data about location and other details. DJI recently disabled the latter function.
As for the following, pay attention to the TikTok case. The social media company just filed a massive brief calling the potential ban “unconstitutional.” If TikTok wins, it could bode well for DJI’s chances of avoiding similar action.
6. The Copilot+ PC era began when the first laptops hit stores
AI has been literally everywhere in technology lately, and this week we saw the launch of the first CoPilot+ PCs: computers with a dedicated Qualcomm Neural Processing Unit (NPU) that can perform a variety of AI tasks locally.
Lenovo, Samsung, HP, Dell and Microsoft have all launched CoPilot+ models, and while the AI couldn’t do everything for us when we tested them, it at least lent a helping hand – appropriately, like a co-pilot.
If you want to give them a try, there should be demo stations available at your local big tech store – we’ve seen them in stores like Best Buy – and it’s worth visiting one to see what all this AI hype is about .
5. Nintendo finally gave us a Zelda-led game
A common gaming meme is that people unfamiliar with the series often assume that Zelda is the name of the main character of The Legend of Zelda games. Finally, they will be correct if Echoes of wisdom was announced for September 26 during this week’s Nintendo Direct, with the eponymous princess finally taking center stage.
During the presentation we also received a new trailer Metroid Prime 4 onwards And Mario & Luigi: Brotherhoodas well as the announcement that Nintendo Switch Online was getting four new games – all of which were released on the day of the showcase.
This includes Metroid Zero Mission, Perfectly dark, TurokAnd The Legend of Zelda: a link to the past – including an online multiplayer port of the original Four swords game – starring our usual hero Link (and in Four swords’ case, four of his).
If you’re worried that you might one day lose your job to an AI chatbot, it might be time to try stand-up comedy. This week, a new study revealed just how bad ChatGPT and Google Gemini are when it comes to pranks. In fact, they make C-3PO look like a comedic genius.
The Google DeepMind study followed the experiences of twenty comedians, all of whom tried to use their AI assistant of choice to create stage-worthy material. The results were largely bland tropes that resembled “1950s cruise ship comedy material, but slightly less racist.” So humor is still a beta feature for AI assistants, which is a relief.
3. Pentax launched a new film camera
We had our hands on the Pentax 17, the first film camera from one of the biggest names in analog photography in over twenty years. It is a new half-frame compact camera, developed by Pentax engineers past and present. It comes almost two years after the Pentax Film Project was announced, with one goal: developing film cameras for today’s TikTok generation.
Half-frame gives you twice the shots on regular 35mm film, in portrait format with the old school look – ideal for social media. And the retro camera itself gave us the feels: the tactile controls, audible feedback from the film wind crank and a beautiful little viewfinder displaying the zone focus mode and image area – a clever bit of design.
It took us a while to warm up to the Pentax 17, and at $500 and £500 it’s quite pricey, but after extended use it won us over. It makes a lot of sense for today’s market, where film photography is trending. We expect the Pentax 17 to be a very popular camera indeed.
2. Fujifilm unveiled the Instax Wide 400 camera
Fujifilm has announced a replacement for its decade-old Instax Wide 300 with the brand new Instax Wide 400 – the largest of its instant camera range ahead of Square and Mini.
If you’re looking to capture events with a lot of guests, such as a wedding, the 99 x 62 mm (3.9 x 2.44 in) prints are ideal for squeezing everyone into the frame. And while we think instant printers might be better for most people – because you can print your smartphone photos instead of risking an instant camera click – there’s something delightful about these types of cameras.
So if you want to buy one, you should know that it will cost you $149.99 / £129.99 (Australia price TBD). Meanwhile, packs of Instax Wide film start at $18.99 / £16.99 for a double pack of 10 regular color sheets.
1. Xreal has made a smartphone-like design for its AR glasses
This week, Xreal announced the Beam Pro. While it looks like a smartphone – complete with a 6.5-inch LCD 2K touchscreen and dual 50MP cameras on the back – it’s not.
Instead, it’s designed as an add-on to Xreal’s AR smart glasses, so you’re guaranteed to be able to stream games and shows to the immersive portable HD theaters that Xreal has created, like the Xreal Air 2.
Best of all, the Beam Pro costs just $199 / £189 for the 6GB RAM / 128GB storage model, while the 8GB RAM / 256GB storage model costs $249 / £239. Pre-orders are now live on XREAL.com for the US and UK; availability and prices for Australia are not yet known.