Sony launches ‘Airpeak’ drone division

Sony has announced a drone division called “Airpeak”. The company has said very little about what it plans to send down the runway at the division’s formal launch in (northern) Spring 2021. Airpeak is billed as operating "in the field of AI robotics" and Sony has said its “imaging and sensing technology as well as 3R …

[Phil Kingston]

Last thing we need is more drones. When I'm chilling out at a deserted beauty spot or beach and then there's the whirrrrr-whizzzz of some asshat's drone overhead I get irrationally angry. They're like power tools - the only person they don't piss off is the person using them.

Sony's reputation with me will drop if they enter this market.

I am aware this makes me a petty, grumpy old git.

[Dave 126]

Professional drone videographers tend to be responsible. They require permits for their larger drones, and need to comply with their professional liability insurance. Their business is at risk if they behave like idiots, let alone several grands worth of drone and camera.

Professional video drones are typically larger in order to carry bigger cameras. Of course the whole point of Sony integrating their camera technology into drones is reduce the total weight.

[Chris G]

Such drones have also become a tool of a certain type of journalist and paparazzi, and they don't respect anyone or their privacy.

In Sony's defence, I have to say their cameras are excellent, I have used some of their DSLRs and a couple of the professional video cameras and was very impressed on how good they made my amateur skills look.

Sony camera drones are not likely to be affordable for the average idiot who would abuse such a thing and a serious drone operator would value the drone enough to not risk losing it.

[John Brown (no body)]

"Sony's reputation with me will drop if they enter this market."

Can it drop lower after the rootkit debacle or have you forgiven them that one after all this time?

[jake]

Name says it all, really.

"Sony has announced a drone division called “Airpeak”."

Peaking at sunbathers, through shower windows, etc. no doubt.

[Annihilator]

Re: Name says it all, really.

I've never understood that. Whisper it, but do you know there are naked ladies on the internet?

[I should coco]

Re: Name says it all, really.

Oh! Suits you sir!

[xeroks]

Intersting to see which way Sony fall on this tech. They tend, as an organisation, towards being overly proprietary. Their solid state music players were lovely pieces of tech, but didn't play MP3s or something weird, only playing their own formatted files. Same for their readers.

I mean I understand why, given their history with video formats, but it has hampered them over the years as they've tried to move into other areas.

[fuzzie]

They do occasionally suffer from Not-Invented-Here, definitely less so these days. When my car's OEM head unit started acting up, I replaced it with a Sony one because (unlike most others) it supports FLAC. Similarly, PS3 (not sure about PS4/etc) and their TVs understanding mkv containers.

They still have their "moments", e.g. LDAC for HiRes audio over Bluetooth. aptX-HD now competes and world+dog is already on aptX band wagon, even though it's Qualcomm proprietary.

Sony's a big company with different "personalities"

[all ears]

Sony not trustworthy

They make some very good products, but they're generally overpriced, and always include an unhealthy amount of proprietary lockin. And remember when they installed malware on their customers' hard drives, on purpose, just to further their DRM scheme?

No corporation really has their customers' best interests at heart, but Sony is worse than most.