DroneDJ

Jehan-Benjamin Tarain, better known as Jben, has been using the beach as his canvas since 2014. But his masterpieces are as fleeting as the tides, which is why he uses drones to immortalize them. “I was the first beach artist ever to use a drone,” Jben tells DroneDJ. “Other artists used to take pictures from cliffs.”

If there’s a significant storm pretty much anywhere, you can bet Storm Chasers are on the case. One of the best-known is American Reed Timmer, a meteorologist who starred in the Discovery Channel series Storm Chasers. Reed is still chasing, gathering data and video, and experiencing the immense power nature can unleash. His latest posts include drone footage of recent flooding in Utah.

DJI’s Agras industrial drone is a workhorse. It’s intended for spraying pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizer, but has been put to other uses as well. During the early months of COVID, some of these units were deployed in China to spray disinfectant. They’ve also been used in anti-malarial programs to kill off mosquito larvae. But feeding fish? That’s a new one.

Oh, man. Here we go again. Another sighting by pilots near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) of a Jet Pack Man, close to their flight path. But we don’t think it’s a true Jet Pack – though we certainly understand why pilots describe it as such. No, we’re convinced it’s a drone.

When England’s Loughborough University student Dominic Leatherland was on a beach holiday with his family in 2017, he witnessed a teenage surfer being pulled out to sea due to rough conditions. While two off-duty lifeguards heroically saved the surfer, Dominic noticed the teen didn’t have access to a flotation device for at least 35 seconds. And he found himself thinking: “Why can’t we just fly a drone over the waves and drop a flotation device with the casualty?”

Alas, yet another report has come down of a close call between a passenger plane and an illegally operated uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) – this time from Scotland. The near-miss incident involved a drone coming within 100 feet of a commercial airliner during its approach to Glasgow’s Paisley Airport – and at night to boot.

Chronically water-poor United Arab Emirates has been investing millions in recent years into technology capable of squeezing moisture from otherwise parsimonious clouds overhead. Now, desperate for a respite from brutal heat baking the nation this summer, the UAE has again deployed its drone-based rain-making tech to provoke downpours over Dubai.

Could using drones to herd sheep actually be better for the animal than traditional methods of shepherding? Researchers in Australia strap on heart rate monitors to sheep to find out…

Canadian entrepreneur Nation North is only 11 years old, but don’t insult his intelligence or business ambitions with suggestions that he wash cars or run a lemonade stand to get started. Ontario’s next tycoon has already raised his own seed funding and launched a savvy promotion to generate clients for his new drone photography and video company.

When a critically endangered southern right whale swam into a lake in Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) last month, it was a local drone photographer who was on hand to snag some spectacular footage of the majestic creature. And just last week, a mom and newborn calf whales were caught breaching on camera by a drone pilot off Jervis Bay.

We didn’t think we’d see this today, but it’s cool: Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg flew a drone today. And not just any drone — it was a DJI Inspire 2.

Auterion, the Open Source software (and hardware) company that uses its platform to help streamline the work of drone service providers, has some news. Auterion will partner with Workswell to integrate its thermal imaging cameras with Auterion’s Open Source platform.

We’ve shown you that Iceland volcano in many permutations: ferociously erupting and sending lava soaring, gently bubbling like some tangerine soup, and oozing lava at a steady rate. But this is the first time we’ve seen it like this: New drone videos show that the Iceland volcano has run dry, with no lava… at least for a little bit.

Every once in a while, as you know, intriguing drone videos catch our eye. But this child FPV pilot from Thailand? Well, he’s an inspiration.

I’m a big fan of digital artist Reuben Wu. Now, an NFT of one of his pieces of art – which uses a drone coupled with desolate landscapes and an amazing soundscape for an ethereal effect – is being sold at auction as a Non-Fungible Token, or NFT.

The Asian arowana is the world’s costliest aquarium fish, rumored to sell for as much as $300,000. But a cheaper alternative is now available – and it comes in the form of an underwater drone!

Huge clouds of dust engulfed the Phoenix Metropolitan Area this week – a consequence of monsoon season’s arrival without the rain that drought-plagued Arizona usually expects from the storms. A drone flown in one Phoenix suburb filmed video of the eerie gray mass as winds blew the dust clouds over the city.

Aircraft platform operator Malaysia Airports has announced its link-up with urban air mobility (UAM) heavyweights Volocopter and Skyports to organize and develop infrastructure and services for the country’s future electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) air taxi activities.

A new image of the sharply designed ZeroZero Robotics V-Coptr Falcon has shown up online. This is a drone many consumers have been waiting to see, with its unusual configuration.

Extremely rare and dramatic footage has surfaced this week of a massive landslip filmed from on high. In it, drone-shot video above the Bingham Canyon mine in Utah captures the enormous landslide from its very beginning right through to the end.

Drone deliveries can save time, money, and even – as Zipline has proven repeatedly – save lives. Now, FlytBase, a drone automation platform, has announced the imminent launch of FlytZip, an on-demand, last-mile drone delivery software platform.

Electrical engineer Cory found that the stress of the quarantine could be kept at bay with more Nerf battles with his kids. What the kids hadn’t counted on was Dad’s intention to mount a Nerf gun on a FPV drone.

We often refer to drones as “flying robots.” Well, here’s a two-legged robot that has learned how to run, and it’s an amazing thing to watch.

Well, well, well. If you’re looking for a deal on drones, you can’t beat this one: 15 drones at IKEA for CAD $59.99 (US $47.75). Just don’t expect them to fly…