Aside from the global shutter on Sony's A9 III and some cool mirrorless options -- the Fujifilm X100 VI, Panasonic S9 and Canon EOS R5 II come to mind -- 2024 was a dull year for cameras full of small tweaks and minor improvements. For 200, aerial photography is now finally in reach for just about anyone. DJI released its product lineup this year with a sword of Damocles hanging over its head: the US government was planning to ban sales of the company's products by the end of 2024 over potential fears of spying. It was only at the last minute that DJI gained a reprieve, thanks in large part to lobbying by public safety groups that heavily rely on its drones. It now has until the end of 2025 to prove that its products don't pose a risk.

Black Friday means savings on cameras for content creation, travel photography and more. This year is no exception as all the major manufacturers, including Sony, Canon, DJI, Nikon, GoPro, Fujifilm and Nikon have some stellar deals. Sony is offering its latest compact vlogging camera, the ZV-1F, at just $398 ($100 off), while Canon's new EOS R100 mirrorless APS-C camera is available with a kit lens for just $449. Panasonic has its full frame Lumix S5 on sale for $1,298 (38 percent off), DJI's Avata Pro-View combo is $999 (30 percent off) and GoPro's Hero 11 is down to $300, for a savings of 14 percent. Sony's ZV-1F for budding content creators is 20 percent off for Black Friday.

If you're looking for a camera (or drone) for content creation, travel photography and more, Amazon Prime Day has some great deals, including rare sales on popular models. For example, Sony's latest A7 IV model is on sale for the first time at $2,400, or $2,600 with a 28-70mm kit lens -- saving you $100 on each. DJI, which doesn't often discount its popular drones, is selling the Mini 3 Pro with DJI RC remote for $729. Meanwhile, Canon is selling its R50 creator's kit for $850 for a savings of $150, Panasonic has its full frame Lumix S5 on sale with two lenses (including a prime) for $1,700 (40 percent off) and OM System is selling the OM-D E-M1 Mark III mirrorless camera for just $1,300, for an impressive $500 discount. There are plenty of other deals as well, and if you don't find what you want at Amazon, some of the products come with the same discount elsewhere.

From a smart device capable of urinalysis from your home toilet to a robot dog and a smart bird feeder, CES 2023 was full of fun surprises. It also proved the annual event continues to set the tone for the coming year in connected devices across the consumer and enterprise realms, spanning verticals such as healthcare, automotive, smart home, and beyond. In healthcare, the newly announced smart device for home toilets is from Withings, and it really does analyze a person's urine in realtime. U-Scan is a little Wi-Fi-connected device that contains a dozen test pods with various biomarker tests. It uses a clever design to test urine and then transmit test results to the user's app almost immediately.

CES is the place for weird and wonderful tech announcements, and Panasonic has pulled out one in the latter category. Partnering with Barcelona-based start-up Biel, the two companies have announced a pair of'life-changing' smart glasses for aiding in mobility for visually impaired individuals at CES 2023 (opens in new tab). With the aim of helping to reduce mobility issues caused by impaired vision, specifically peripheral vision loss, or to most of us this is known as tunnel vision, affecting suffers of conditions including glaucoma, retinitis pigmentosa, and others. The new smart glasses allow users to receive feedback about obstacles and other hazards, using the latest in AI and robotics technologies developed by Biel Glasses, allowing visually impaired users to move around safely, independently, and with more confidence. Biel Glasses is a start-up founded in Barcelona in 2017, by a doctor and engineer, and named for their son Biel, who was born with low vision.

Artificial intelligence (AI) helps automate repetitive tasks comprising large datasets. This makes it beneficial in many diverse fields and business environments. This has led the demand for such solutions to rise. It's also driving AI acquisitions as businesses attempt to streamline their workflows. In this article, you'll learn about the 8 biggest AI acquisitions from 2021.

Between presentations launching new PC processors and candy-colored refrigerators at last week's CES, companies at the annual tech industry jamboree made a lot of big, flashy proclamations about climate change, some more serious than others, and most seeming to include at least one stock video clip of trees, solar panels and children frolicking in grassy meadows or on pristine beaches. General Motors unveiled a new zero-emission pickup truck and dropped hints about new EV models to come, while Panasonic, which calculated that it released 110 million tons of CO2 per year and accounted for 1% of global electricity consumption, reiterated a pledge to decarbonize its operations by 2030 and promised to make its products more efficient. LG--which has pledged carbon neutrality by 2030, and to use fully renewable power by 2050--rolled out glass-fronted refrigerators (to avoid wasting energy while you look inside) and washing machines that use AI to shorten wash cycles. Samsung, whose CO2 emissions actually rose in 2020, and which has faced controversy over its reliance on coal energy, offered promises like devices that would use less standby power, which some environmentalists criticized as greenwashing. A version of this story first appeared in the Climate is Everything newsletter. To sign up, click here.

The ¥47,300 DeliSofter pot looks much like the rice cookers ubiquitous in Japanese households and it does prepare rice in 24 minutes. But this invention of two Panasonic Corp. engineers is designed to do more and help people with swallowing difficulties. The two women led the creation of a spin-off company, Gifmo Co., to sell the specialized steam cooker, which they say can turn fried chicken soft enough to be sliced with a potato chip. The machine works by first cutting into food with a series of blades and then subjecting it to extremely high pressure at a temperature of 120 degrees Celsius, rendering many familiar foods digestible without sacrificing the original shape or texture, Gifmo said. It promises to restore a sense of normalcy to elderly people's lives and diets, allowing them to mash food with their tongue alone.

Sony has finally revealed its mainstream $2,500 Alpha A7 IV full-frame mirrorless camera and it looks to have been worth the wait. Borrowing technology from the recent A1 and A7S III models, it offers large improvements over the A7 III introduced well over three years ago. Key features include an all-new 33-megapixel sensor, 4K 10-bit 60 fps video, new AI autofocus tricks and a lot more. The A7 IV resembles the A7S III in terms of size and layout, but you can now select between still, video and S&Q (slow and quick) options with a new dedicated dial below the mode dial. Each mode completely changes the settings and control layout of the camera to favor either photo- or video-centric controls.

Many of us could use more companionship in these times of social distancing and staying at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic. While you might not be able to have a dog or cat in your residence, perhaps a companion robot will do the trick. If you're looking for one with more personality, Panasonic has made another robot that might hold the answer. With the help of the Toyohashi University of Technology Michio Oka Laboratory, Panasonic created the cute Nicobo. It looks a bit like a cat that got itself stuck in a sock.