Founder, Publisher and Editorial Director of the 9to5/Electrek/DroneDJ sites.
Seth Weintraub is an award-winning journalist and blogger who won back to back Neal Awards during his three plus years covering Apple and Google at IDG’s Computerworld from 2007–2010. Weintraub next covered all things Google for Fortune Magazine from 2010-2011 amassing a thick rolodex of Google contacts and love for Silicon Valley tech culture.
It turns out that his hobby 9to5Mac.com blog was always his favorite and in 2011 he went full time adding his Fortune Google followers to 9to5Google.com and adding the style and commerce component 9to5Toys.com gear and deals site. In 2013, Weintraub bought one of the Tesla’s first Model S EVs off the assembly line and so began his love affair with the Electric Vehicle and green energy which in 2014 turned into electrek.co.
In 2018, DroneDJ was born to cover the burgeoning world of drones and UAV’s led by China’s DJI.
From 1997-2007, Weintraub was a Global IT director and Web Developer for a number of companies with stints at multimedia and branding agencies in Paris, Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, Hong Kong, Madrid and London before becoming a publisher/blogger.
Seth received a bachelors degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Southern California with a minor in Multimedia and Creative Technology in 1997. In 2004, he received a Masters from NYU’s Tisch School of the Art’s ITP program.
Hobbies: Weintraub is a licensed single engine private pilot, certified open water scuba diver and spent over a year traveling to 60 cities in 23 countries. Whatever free time exists is now guaranteed to his lovely wife and two amazing sons.
More at About.me. BI 2014 profile.
Tips: seth@9to5mac.com, or llsethj on Wickr/Skype or link at top of page.
A small drone shows a tornado in Kansas like you’ve never seen before.
Kansas, famous for its tornadoes since the Wizard of Oz, is no stranger to the devastation caused by the meteorological phenomena. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen drone footage of a tornado quite like this before with large houses pulled right out of the ground and thrown hundreds of feet into the air shown as clear and steady as a Hollywood film…
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The DJI Mavic 3 Pro flagship prosumer drone shipped installed last year without the company’s tracking software (as well as a bunch of other stuff we’ve come to know and love about DJI products). Earlier this year, DJI released firmware that enabled tracking called Active Track 5.0. Naturally, we took it for some testing and compared it to the king of tracker drones, the Skydio 2.
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For those considering a DJI Mavic Pro 2 vs. the newly announced Mavic 3, we’ve put together a comparison of the specs. The big differences are in flight time at 31 mins for Mavic 2 vs 46 for the Mavic 3, a whopping >50% improvement (!) multiple lenses on the Mavic 3 and of course ProRes on the Cine version (which weighs 4 grams more). Lots more little details in the numbers below…
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The DJI Mavic 3 launch teasers keep coming from inside and outside the company. DJI Global just teased the Mavic 3 launch event with a teaser including a blurred “Mavic 3″…
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The DJI Mavic 2 Zoom and 2 Pro debuted in 2018 at $1,249 and $1,449 respectively (the Pro was updated to $1499 a month later). So even with the global chip shortage, inflation, and everything else, the DJI Mavic 3 should pull in pretty close to that, right? Uhh well, you might want to have a seat…
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Hey all, you might have heard that DJI launched the Air 2S today ($999) and of course in addition to a launch review, we’re going to go on Youtube and Facebook to answer some of your questions as well as highlight some of the finer points of the new drone.
The video links are embedded below or here for YouTube and Facebook.
Edit: That’s a wrap but if you want to watch the 45 minute video recap, click either of the above links!
Today only as part of its Gold Box, Amazon offers 23%+ off on one of the biggest selections of SD cards we’ve seen, crossing brands like Samsung, SanDisk, Lexar and more, starting at $29.99. Some standouts:
See the whole selection here.
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We’re big snowboarders in my family and I was finally able to get my hands on a Skydio 2 before the season ended for us this weekend. The fine folks at our favorite hill, Bromley Mountain in Southern Vermont told us we could do one run, away from ski lifts after shut down as ski patrol was heading down the mountain. The only problem (besides the slightly slushy snow)? I had just got the Skydio 2 and only flown it once. Would I be able to get it ready for the one run in just a matter of hours?
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Hi all! To help celebrate the end to a nutty year, you can win a DJI Mavic Mini to put under the tree (or festivus pole or religious symbol of your choosing). To enter, simply follow one of our social media channels using the tool below. You can also find them manually here (Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, YouTube, Podcast) or at the top of our page.
DJI Mavic Mini GiveawayWe’ll be picking a North American winner (can’t guarantee a Christmas delivery outside the lower 48 US states) next week.
Update: Congrats to our winner David S from Iowa! Expect the Mini to arrive soon!
More details below…
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Sony today is teasing a new Drone Project called Airpeak that seems to be aimed at video and image content creators, something that Sony has long targeted with its impressive camera line. The product, which we imagine will be its own drone, is expected to launch in spring 2021. Does this put DJI, Parrot, Skydio, and others on notice?
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We know everyone is pumped to watch the DJI Mini 2 livestream live from Beijing, as are we. The show begins at 8 p.m. ET or 5 p.m. PT.
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“Always Home Cam” isn’t Amazon’s delivery drone but will deliver piece of mind… in 2021
Today at its new product event, Amazon debuted a new $249 drone that’s job is to patrol your home when you aren’t there. Will people invite Bezos Inc drones into their homes?
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DroneDJ reader Scott Lee was flying his Mavic Pro recreationally in western Pennsylvania when he heard a shot from a rifle not too far away.
At the time, he was hovering, adjusting his camera angle at 389 feet. After the shot, all systems appeared to be normal. He continued to fly the drone. However, when he decided to bring it back, he noticed a big difference in his drone…
Hey everyone, today is Mavic Air 2 launch day (check out the announcement and our review) and we’re here live to discuss the new drone. Head below for the YouTube embed or follow this link. (Buy your Mavic Air 2 $799)
All the rumors were true: The DJI Mavic Air 2 is now official, and we’ve had a few days head start evaluating the new $799 wunderkind. (Buy at DJI or Adorama/$988 Fly More)
Talk about big numbers in a small (570g) package: 48 Megapixel camera which shares the Sony IMX586 sensor with recent flagship smartphones. Add the ability to record 4K video at 60 frames per second, which is double the framerate of the big brother Mavic 2 Pro.
There’s a lot more to this, so read on as we bring you exclusive footage and takes below:
DJI’s official eBay storefront offers its Mavic Air Fly More Combo for $699 shipped. Also available for $1 more at Best Buy and $499 refurbished at DroneNerds. Typically fetching around $970, today’s offer saves you $270, beats our previous mention by $20, and marks one of the lowest prices we’ve seen to date. Mavic Air features 4K video recording, an HDR-compatible 32MP sensor and slow-motion video capture. It brings 21-minutes of flight time, a 43-mile per hour top speed and 3-axis gimbal-stabilized camera to a folding drone design. The Fly More Combo includes additional propellers, a carrying case, other accessories to round out your kit. With Mavic Air 2 slated to be officially announced this month, now is a great time to save on the original. Over 825 customers have left a 4.8/5 star rating and you can dive into our hands-on review for an in-depth look. More details below.
Apple today has started selling the LaCie 2TB DJI Copilot BOSS Hard Drive. Apple is selling the accessory via both its online store as well as its retail stores. The hard drive costs $349.95 from Apple and serves as an accessory designed for cameras, DJI drones, and more.
We’re at the DJI Mavic 2 launch event and are updating as we learn more. Update Mavic 2 Pro and Zoom page is now live. Livestream below.
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Just now, DJI pushed back to an undisclosed date its July 18th “See the Bigger Picture” event due to what seems to be the (drone) technology not being ready… Needless to say, DJI’s announcement comes as a big surprise less than two weeks away from what would have been a global product launch on July 18th. The drone maker told us that they are working on establishing a new date and will announce that as soon as possible.
We were just passed along an interesting short documentary video by Dezeen below on how drones will change city life and in the words of one expert “will be more disruptive than the Internet”…
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From Electrek:
The flying taxi company Kitty Hawk last night launched ‘Cora’, a Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) personal airplane/helicopter drone hybrid that will carry a passenger. Kitty Hawk is funded by Google co-founder Larry Page and CEO-ed by Sebastian Thrun, the self-driving car pioneer who is the founding director of Google’s X lab.
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From 9to5Google:
Google is not only applying machine learning across its products, but also encouraging other developers to adopt it in third-party services and other use cases. It has now emerged that one of the latter examples is for drones from the U.S. government.
DJI’s Mavic Air was announced last week to a flurry of great reviews. We’re currently putting together our review but spoiler: We can say that this is the drone to get in the ~$800 price range.
Capture 4K Video and 12MP PhotosOne way to save money is buying the Fly More combo but that’s not saving money off the original DJI Mavic Air, it is saving over $200 on accessories when purchased at the same time.
The good news is that we’ve done some digging and negotiating to get the lowest price offers from various resellers on the Mavic Air. Head below for the breakdown…