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.
Late last year, actor Ewan McGregor and his longtime friend Charlie Boorman began a 13,000 mile (21,000 km) trip from the southern end of Argentina to Los Angeles. They traveled on a pair of Harley-Davidson LiveWire electric motorcycles with a pair of Rivian electric pickup trucks as support vehicles for a new show on AppleTV+…
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Since Rimac secured backing from Porsche, it has been making big moves and making many new hires — arguably none bigger than the new one announced this week, Chris Porritt.
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In the market for the best new consumer drone and have some Apple Store credit to spend? The newly launched DJI Mavic Air 2 and Fly More Combo bundle are both available to order from Apple.com starting today at a slight premium over DJI’s prices.
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:
Today is iPhone SE 2020 launch day and as per usual our sister site 9to5Mac nailed all the details weeks ago (runs in the fam). But with the new $399 iPhone SE officially out, we take a look at its value proposition compared to the upcoming Pixel 4a that we exclusively detailed last week.
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To start off the weekend right, we have a great giveaway for you today. DroneDJ teamed up with DJI for this promotion and we will give away one DJI Mavic Mini, our new favorite travel drone, and one Mavic Mini Care Refresh package. All you need to do to have a chance to win this amazing little folding drone is sign up using the form below. The winners will be announced on March 15th.
Don’t forget to participate in the DJI Mavic Mini Giveaway, if you haven’t done so already. Winners will be announced at 6 pm EST today.
The winner of the DJI Mavic Mini is Noah LaRoy from Michigan. And the Mavic. Mini Care Refresh package goes to John Meyendorff in Michigan as well. Congratulations to both! Be sure to check your email with instructions to claim your prize.
Logitech sent us its new $169.99 StreamCam in September to review before its Logitech Capture for Mac software was even ready. Something happened and the project got pushed out a few months until today, but I started using it for the Electrek Podcast in September. Logitech got back to us this week and told us the project was back on and the Mac software was ready.
So this is kind of a weird “first look” at a product I’ve been using for almost a half year…
I’ve been a happy Bose QC35 Noise cancelling headphone user since the day they came out. These were the first “consumer priced” ANC headset combos and have since been matched by excellent products from Sony and Apple’s Beats brand. But Active Noise Cancellation has always come at a price. In the case of the QC35s and Sony’s, prices start at $350 retail unless you find deals.
Broski Lety sent me a pair of their new active noise cancelling headphones which are on Indiegogo now for $99 and will soon be on Amazon for 50% more. You wouldn’t be reading this if I wasn’t super-impressed…
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Over the past month, I’ve used the Sony’s poorly-named but pretty incredible WF-1000XM3 wireless earbuds for gym workouts (recommended) and bike rides (at your own risk). These $228 earbuds fall between Apple’s $159 AirPods and $259 PowerBeats Pro but offer something both don’t: active noise cancellation.
In fact, I reviewed the PowerBeats Pro last month and thought I was done with my search for the perfect wireless earbuds. Turns out I was wrong…
It’s hard for anyone to argue against Google Assistant being the best voice assistant at answering queries. Assistant has proven time after time that it’s superior. Recently though, one test found that the gap between Assistant, Siri, and Alexa is starting to close quite a bit.
Something that has been sitting at the back of my mind forever is that pile of DV tapes I have in the attic which were taken before smartphone cameras existed. For one reason or another, I didn’t import them after I made them and now the FOMO is starting to creep in as the hardware to pull these videos off the tapes rapidly becomes obsolete.
LifeFlix to the rescue?
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There have been rumors of Tesla and Apple partnering up for years, but now they are intensifying in light of Elon Musk pushing to take Tesla private.
Ross Gerber activist Tesla investor is even now calling for Apple to take a stake in Tesla as part of the ongoing discussions for a take-private deal.
But does it make sense?
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There are now a few HomeKit-enabled window mounted air conditioners on the market, but what about the millions of installed and working dumb air conditioners already in homes and apartments? Does it make sense to trash a perfectly good air conditioner just to get a smart one?
Perhaps! But an Israeli-based company called Sensibo has a quicker/easier/better solution. For most air conditioners with a remote, the Sensibo Sky is will add an app/web controlled and timer equipped thermostat to your air conditioner in minutes, and today it is $99 as part of Amazon’s Prime Day.
If you are like me, Spring means biking season and I want to tell you about two great bike helmets that connect to your iPhone via Bluetooth to not only make your ride more safe but also more fun too. For over a year, I’ve had the Coros LINX helmet which uses bone conducting conduits to safely send audio signal to your eardrums without blocking natural sound.
A few weeks ago I peeped the new $179.99 Lumos Helmet at the Grand Central Apple Store touting bright lights and a turn signal activated from your phone.
For Tesla fans, the Electric vehicle/energy company just put out a iPhone/iPad powerbank “designed and inspired after Tesla’s supercharger monument at the Tesla Design Studio”.
In case you missed it last night, Tesla put on quite a show – check our sister site Electrek for all the details on the Tesla Semi and 250+mph, 0-60 in 1.9 sec, 1000km range Roadster.
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I’m here at IFA in Berlin, Germany which opens to the public today. Behind the scenes I’ve been discussing the upcoming iPhone launch on September 12th with many case vendors. At least two have heard, and have moved on, knowledge of the upcoming iPhone nomenclature and some details which they’ve separately learned from sources in Shenzhen who claim to have seen the new iPhone packaging.
The Apple HomePod firmware is turning out to be the gift that keeps on giving. Today, developer Guilherme Rambo dug up the following strings inside seemingly confirming the upcoming HDR 4K Apple TV and some other details.
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Chris Lattner isn’t the only high profile Apple executive who departed for Tesla over the past month, rather than sticking around to work on Titan. 9to5mac has learned that Matt Casebolt, a high profile Senior Director of Design for Apple’s Mac lineup left the company last month for a role at Tesla as Sr. Director Engineering, Closures & Mechanisms. A job meant for a man named Casebolt …
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In a new report out this morning from noted analyst Ming-Chi Quo at KGI Securities, we find the size of the new iPad form factor, expected in Q2 still in flux indicating that Apple may still be deciding between different sizes.
The new models will come in 12.9”, 10-10.5” and 9.7” versions. We note the 12.9” model will be the second generation of the existing 12.9” iPad Pro, the 10-10.5” model will be the high-end model equipped with a narrow bezel design, and the 9.7” model will be the low-priced option. The former two models will have an A10X chip manufactured by TSMC (2330 TT, NT$183.5, N), while the latter comes with an A9 chip made by Samsung LSI. Although we estimate iPad shipments in 2017 will drop again YoY to 35-37mn units, we except the decline to narrow to 10% from 2016’s roughly 20%, given that the 10-10.5” model may see more demand from commercial/ enterprises and tender markets, while the low-priced 9.7” model may have a greater shipment contribution and likely account for 50-60% of total shipments of new iPads.
Perhaps most interesting for AAPL stockholders is the psychological impact of iPad sales leveling off and greater ASP…
Sonny Dickson this evening posted posted a log and video of a never before seen in public version of pre-iPhone era software that was built as an alternative OS to what eventually became iOS.
The OS, which was devised in the iPod’s heyday, was based on a virtual click-wheel that was put on the touch display. A set of menus is navigated with the touch much like one would using an iPod of the time. In the era of multi-touch the idea seems quaint but when everyone is using iPods, the UI makes a lot of sense as a small step rather than the giant leap to iPhone OS, what eventually became iOS.
Check out the video below:
Apple has pulled the Withings line of health care products from its online stores following the recent patent dispute with Nokia. Nokia purchased the Withings line of smart devices earlier this year for around $192 million and has since integrated the company into its smart line of products…
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In a Friday evening release to Buzzfeed, Apple and Google spokespeople went on the record saying that the two tech behemoths would be opposed to helping build or contributing to any sort of ‘Muslim Registry’.
An Apple spokesperson said:
“We think people should be treated the same no matter how they worship, what they look like, who they love. We haven’t been asked and we would oppose such an effort.”
A spokesperson for Google said:
“In relation to the hypothetical of whether we would ever help build a ‘muslim registry’ – we haven’t been asked, of course we wouldn’t do this and we are glad – from all that we’ve read – that the proposal doesn’t seem to be on the table.”
The idea of a registry was put forward during President-elect Trump’s controversial campaign but like many the other ideas put forward (Like an Apple ban), it seems to be walked back as his term starts in a month. Amazon and Oracle troublingly declined to comment on a Muslim registry while Uber simply said “No”.
Many other tech company employees have joined the NeverAgain Pledge. You can sign up here.
The Intercept’s Sam Biddle did the original work in this area getting other technology notables to decline the hypothetical:
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In our latest installment of Apple Campus 2 flyovers, we see that Apple is nearing completion for its 2017 opening. The main structures are almost complete from the outside and trees and fountains and other landscaping are going in. Drone video and high definition stills are below…
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KGI‘s Ming-Chi Kuo is out with his latest iPhone sales numbers forecast which shows the iPhone 7 line falling in sales for the second consecutive year. The primary drivers are weak demand in China, slow shipment volume of 4.7” iPhones in 1Q17, and the lack of a new iPhone SE in 2Q17.
Falling sales may force Apple to exert pressure on its suppliers to reduce costs starting this month or next…