The Buzz Podcast

Join Yifei and Seth for this week's weekly round-up of news from the drone industry. Each week they discuss the top stories and pick a drone video of the week.

Shop DJI, Autel, or other drone products on Amazon to support the show.

New episodes of the weekly news round-up are recorded live on Wednesday mornings at 10:00 a.m. EST. You can watch these episodes on DroneDJ's YouTube channel.

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Yifei Zhao on Instagram

Seth Kurkowski on Twitter

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DJI updates Fly app, Mavic Air 2 drone firmwareAutel releases firmware upgrade for EVO Nano and Lite series dronesMLB tests drones in aerial coverage of college baseball gamesLumicopter makes confined-space inspection more accessible with DJI FPV droneDJI RC Plus: New remote controller hits the FCC database

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Livestream

https://youtu.be/NVg1gTiYhU8

Subscribe to DroneDJ's YouTube channel to never miss an episode of the weekly show.

Join Yifei and Seth for this week's weekly round-up of news from the drone industry. Each week they discuss the top stories and pick a drone video of the week.

Shop DJI, Autel, or other drone products on Amazon to support the show.

New episodes of the weekly news round-up are recorded live on Wednesday mornings at 10:00 a.m. EST. You can watch these episodes on DroneDJ's YouTube channel.

Follow

Yifei Zhao on Instagram

Seth Kurkowski on Twitter

Read More

Eyeing ‘global drone hub by 2030’ status, India bans foreign drone importsNatilus reveals $6 billion in advance cargo drone ordersFrance’s Defense Ministry developing bird-like stealth droneDrone Delivery Was Supposed to be the Future. What Went Wrong? (Video of the week)

Subscribe

Apple PodcastGoogle PodcastSpotifyOvercast

Livestream

https://youtu.be/POETRri_ZWk

Subscribe to DroneDJ's YouTube channel to never miss an episode of the weekly show.

Join Yifei and Seth for this week's weekly round-up of news from the drone industry. Each week they discuss the top stories and pick a drone video of the week.

Shop DJI, Autel, or other drone products on Amazon to support the show.

New episodes of the weekly news round-up are recorded live on Wednesday mornings at 10:00 a.m. EST. You can watch these episodes on DroneDJ's YouTube channel.

Follow

Yifei Zhao on Instagram

Seth Kurkowski on Twitter

Read More

Coverdrone insurance claims data uncovers most common risks with drone flyingSkydio wins US Army’s $100 million small drone recon contractDronetag Mini add-on device offers Remote ID compliance for older drones

Video of the week

This video comes from Yifei's AlterX Acadamy, where her team helped document the destruction of two smokestacks.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CZSHNR8lk_H/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

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Livestream

https://youtu.be/ueZf78tTbs4

Subscribe to DroneDJ's YouTube channel to never miss an episode of the weekly show.

This week's livestream from Yifei and Seth covered the top stories from last week and a new segment, DroneDJ Video of the Week. Read a summary of the topics we discussed below.

French citizen arrested for drone flights near Iran border

Last week an Iranian court sentenced Benjamin Brière to eight years in prison after flying his drone near the Turkmenistan-Iran border. Brière was arrested in May of 2020 and has been on a hunger strike since Christmas to protest his mistreatment.

France believes this is a political move due to ongoing negotiations on a new Iran Nuclear Deal. In response, Iran has labeled France as a "hostile nation." There are also concerns coming from Brière's Iranian-based lawyers about how the trial went.

This is a very messy situation, especially since Brière is both a foreigner and an Iranian citizen as he holds dual citizenship status.

Litchi announced addition to DJI Mini 2, Mini SE, and Air 2S

Litchi, a popular autonomous drone flying app, added support to DJI's Mini 2, Mini SE, and Air 2S. This is due to the support being added for these drones into DJI's SDK (a tool used by developers for third-party apps). Here is what you can now do with these drones:

Waypoint modePanorama modeTrack modeFollow MeFocus mode

Currently, the update is only on Android, but Litchi hopes to bring these additions to its iOS app once those SDK versions are updated.

DroneDJ Video of the Week

This week's Video of the Week comes from Waimea Bay in Hawaii. With winter swells starting to come in, the surfers are out and enjoying the giant waves. Drone pilots are also out to capture the waves and those that ride them.

https://youtu.be/BtOd3as6RBw

DJI Inspire 2 to be discountined

Notorious DJI leaker OsitaLV shared an image of what seemed to be a notice to stores that the Inspire 2 will stop production. This lines up with reports about a possible Inspire 3 coming later this year.

What will come from an Inspire 3? We don't know, but we have stated our request in previous articles and of course, let us know below what you want to see. If you are still an Inspire 2 flyer and don't expect upgrading to the 3 or whatever comes next, make sure to stock up on accessories as those are usually the first bits to go out of stock.

https://youtu.be/aUx1cXSJE7A

Make sure to subscribe to DroneDJ's YouTube channel to not miss another weekly livestream. DroneDJ Weekly takes place every Wednesday at 10 a.m. EST.

Yifei and Seth discuss this week's top stories, recap what CES was like this year, and interview Autel's owner Maxwell Lee.

CES 2022 recap and interview with Maxwell Lee

While it fell short of meeting expectations from years prior, CES still had great finds and opportunities to speak with companies trying to innovate in the drone industry. There was a good spread of tech to check out from tethered systems to support events and disaster areas to Autel and Sony.

We spent a good amount of time with XDynamics and Autel, speaking with both about the new products they were announcing. You can find our full interview with Autel's Maxwell Lee here. It was great to meet and talk shop with him. Lee understands the industry well and wants to keep pushing what drones can do commercially and in the enterprise space.

XDynamics is a lesser-known company but showed off a great product. Its Evolve 2 reminded me of what a Phantom 5 should be. It's a beast with a micro 4/3 sensor with interchangeable lenses on the front shooting up to 4k at 120 fps or Apple ProRes. Another product that also gets me excited is XDynamics' handheld gimbal with a similar camera system. It's not out for sale yet, but the company hopes to launch the gimbal later this year.

Check your drone's memory card!

Just for laughs, we discussed the memory card found by the Israeli military that ended up showing who the pilot was. It's a good reminder to double-check those SD cards before you head out for a shoot. No one wants to be out in the middle of a flight when you run out of memory space all of a sudden.

A drone for the air and water

A new kind of drone is coming to the market, one that can fly in the air and swim underwater. The "Sea-Air Integrated Drone" is meant for underwater expeditions rather than fun flying like other drones.

Really it's two drones in one, a hexacopter that features a claw-like mechanism under its belly and foam flotation devices. Once over the water, it can "land" and deploy the sea-faring drone controlled via a tether. Once shooting is complete, the hexacopter grabs the sea drone and takes back off. Pretty clever idea when you think about it. No more need for boats to drive out to inspection locations.

https://youtu.be/GBZmGwo0M4Y

Make sure to subscribe to DroneDJ's YouTube channel to not miss another live stream or upload.

While at CES 2022, DroneDJ's Seth Kurkowski had the opportunity to speak with the owner of Autel Robotics, Maxwell Lee.

At Autel's booth, the two spoke about the company's latest products, the Autel EVO Nano and Lite series, as well as the company's more high-end offerings.

Autel EVO Nano and Lite

The EVO Nano, Nano+, Lite, and Lite+ join the company's EVO II series of drones as the company's lower-cost consumer drones.

While these drones may be smaller and cheaper, Lee doesn't want consumers to underestimate the power of the drones.

With impressive battery life and high-quality cameras, the Lite and Nano drones become easy-to-transport content creation machines.

Autel EVO II

As the EVO II gets older, and the Lite+ comes in with impressive video creation features, it may be easy to think that the EVO II is losing its top spot, but it hasn't. The additional sensors and more tailored app continue to position the EVO II as the company's drone for more professional video production and uses.

Dragonfish

While the Dragonfish vehicle may be prohibitively expensive for most of us, it isn't tailored or meant for the average person. The extremely long battery life and extensive camera options make the Dragonfish perfect for enterprise or law-enforcement purposes. Whether that's border patrol or watching for pirates, Lee made it clear that this drone is exclusively for non-weaponized purposes.

Video interview with Maxwell Lee

https://youtu.be/XN6TD67jimw

Make sure to subscribe to DroneDJ's YouTube channel to not miss any uploads.

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!

DroneDJ:

Scott Simmie, Editor in Chief, DroneDJSeth Weintraub, Publisher, DroneDJ

Special Guests today are

Yifei ZhaoPatrick Morrell

See you at 9:45ET!

https://youtu.be/-_M7VfkwboY

Ever wonder what's going on in the drone industry on a global scale? Like who's selling what, and how trends are changing? You're in luck! That's precisely the topic of this edition of The Buzz podcast. We're joined by David Benowitz of Drone Analyst – a great trend spotter and former DJI Enterprise pro. Plug in your headphones (or put on your speakers) and have a listen; there's a ton of great news in this one!

If you're interested in more about David's new Drone Analyst report, check out our story here.

While you're here, consider subscribing to The Buzz. That way, you won't miss an episode.

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On this edition of our podcast, we have a great conversation with Andy Shen of Shen Drones. Andy is kind of the Godfather of the ducted CineWhoop. Tune in — and subscribe — as we hear how Andy went from being a photographer... to a drone designer.

Andy Shen: Great drones, great conversation

Andy tells a great story about the satisfaction – and challenges – of designing and selling FPV drones. We're particularly interested in how Andy developed a very specific ducted design, now used on many copycat drones. But there's only one Squirt. Andy is the fifth guest on our relatively new podcast, called The Buzz. We've been fortunate to have a number of high-level movers and shakers from the drone industry on the show, and encourage you to explore the links below. Of course, the easiest way to keep up on what's happening is to subscribe to our podcast. We include the links to all the popular podcast providers, so give it a click!

And yes, if you're not yet ready to commit you can have a listen to any of the podcasts below simply by clicking. First, though, a look at Andy Shen in the wild, piloting a Shen drone while riding an electric skateboard:

The legendary Andy Shen...

The Buzz Archives

Tom Comet of Drone Boy

Tom Comet flies more than drones!

Tom Comet – high-end drone cinematography

Brendan Schulman of DJI

Brendan is *super* knowledgeable on the regulatory front

Brendan is DJI's VP of Policy and Legal Affairs

Adam Bry of Skydio

Adam Bry in 2018. A *lot* has happened for Skydio since then...

Adam Bry, Skydio's CEO and Founder

Dave Sharpin of Auterion GS

Dave Sharpin of Auterion, Government Services

Auterion's Dave Sharpin talks Open Source

How to subscribe

Glad you asked! Check it out right here...

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Stay Tuned...

It won't be long before the next episode of The Buzz. So subscribe, or check back... because more sonic goodness is coming soon.

I generally announce any new show on social media, as well as other drone news. You can follow me on Twitter here, and on LinkedIn here.

Thanks!

Okay, we realize that probably only a thin wedge of our demographic will recognize that we've borrowed from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. We didn't outright steal the song title because, well, Though Shalt Not do that. But we wanted to get you up to speed on The Buzz, the fastest-growing podcast in the drone industry.

When we started The Buzz, we had a simple idea: We wanted to keep our pulse on what's happening in the drone world. We aimed high for some guests – CEO's of major companies in the business – but we also wanted to explore really great stories from operators, builders, and more. We always make sure that each and every episode is interesting, fresh – and hopefully intelligent. The result? Our numbers are doing great right out of the gate.

And of course, we'd like to grow them to new heights.

The Buzz so far

We thought this might be a great opportunity to review our guest list to date, make it easy for you to sample an episode or two, and subscribe to the series.

Our first guest? Tom Comet. He's the owner of Drone Boy, one of the best-known drone cinematography outfits in Canada. We spoke about the trends in his sector – including the role of tiny CineWhoops and also massive FPV rigs flying RED cameras. You'll be interested to learn that Tom got so into learning about drones, airspace regulations, and the mechanics of flight that he now pilots his own manned aircraft.

Tom is a great talker, with a great story. You can hear, here:

Tom Comet in conversation with DroneDJ's Scott Simmie

The drone lawyer

You likely know who we're talking about: Brendan Schulman. He's a very recognizable figure with DJI, which isn't surprising: He's the company's Vice-President of Policy and Legal affairs. Brendan is great at getting to the point – and we had a sweeping conversation that also touched on what DJI views as trade protectionism in the US. Definitely a must-listen episode:

DJI's Brendan Schulman

Skydio's CEO

Skydio is on a roll. It's Skydio 2 and now the Skydio X2 series have attracted a lot of attention. So is AI going to keep growing as a force in the drone industry? What's next for Skydio after its Series C fundraise of $100M US? There's one way to find out: Listen to this episode of The Buzz, featuring CEO Adam Bry.

Adam Bry in conversation with DroneDJ's Editor-in-Chief

Open talk about open source

Our most recent episode delved into the world of Open Source software as it applies to drones. And there's no entity more emblematic of this are than Auterion and Auterion GS (the GS stands for Government Services). I had a great conversation with CEO Dave Sharpin about Auterion's past, its present...and its future. Have a listen!

An in-depth discussion about Open Source drone software...and why it matters

Don't miss an episode!

The Buzz comes out regularly. But if you don't subscribe, odds are you might miss it. So let's fix that up right now. Subscribe to the show via your favorite podcast provider. And hey – if you think you'd be a good guest – drop me a note and tell me why.

My mailbox is always open: [email protected]

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A semi-final word

We know there are a lot of podcasts competing for your ears. I come from a background as a career journalist in radio, television, online, and print and have interviewed well over a thousand people during my career. We set our goals high when it comes to production values, and we think it's paying off. One of our listeners described it as "NPR-level quality."

Point is, we work hard to ensure this podcast is worth your time.

Connect with Scott

Hey - I always love expanding my network. And I usually follow back on Twitter!

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