GoKawiil
Tech News
Researchers at ETH Zürich have built a quadcopter called FlexiQuad that replaces a rigid frame with a flexible ring-shaped fuselage. The design lets the drone bounce off obstacles like tree trunks, squeeze through narrow gaps, and continue flying instead of crashing to the ground.
Drone delivery company Zipline has closed a new funding round that boosts its valuation, alongside an expanded delivery partnership with Walmart. Specific financial terms of the raise were not detailed in available reporting.
Ukrainian drone strikes have damaged Russian data centers belonging to Yandex, Sberbank, VKontakte and the Ministry of Finance, prompting Russian firms to explore underground facilities. State telecom Rostelcom is in talks with mining company Norilsk about relocating centers below ground, and a regional governor has proposed building them in open-pit coal mines disguised with parks above. Putin also signed a decree on November 2 requiring operators to reserve 10 percent of capacity for emergency state use, and authorized potential reliance on foreign data centers.
Apple is reportedly working on several new home-focused devices, including a HomeView Ultra smart display, a drone, and a robot designed to fold laundry. Details on specifications, timelines or pricing have not been disclosed.
President Vladimir Putin has directed non-state-owned data centers across Russia to set aside 10% of their capacity for state IT infrastructure, to be released on 24 hours' notice via a new government commission. The order follows Ukrainian drone strikes that damaged Russia's largest data center and the finance ministry's facility, disrupting services like Yandex Mail and tax databases.
Aerospace engineering student Tomas Salvo says his jet-powered RC aircraft 'Reaper' reached 491 mph while carrying a 2.6-pound payload, surpassing the 465 mph record set in 2017. Salvo built three prototypes in his dorm room since last February, each using carbon-fiber shells, laser-cut parts and custom turbojet engines, at a total cost of about $13,000.
NATO ran a Digital Backbone Experimentation exercise called DiBaX 2026 in Latvia from October 19-30, testing whether existing 5G towers could passively detect and track drones using AI-designed systems. Separately in the U.S., AT&T and Ericsson demonstrated drone detection via advanced network sensing over a 5G network near a large sporting venue.
Aerospace engineering student Tomas Salvo built a jet-powered drone called Reaper in his Georgia Tech dorm room, which unofficially hit 491 mph, surpassing the previous 465 mph record for small jet-powered drones. The $13,000 aircraft uses a custom carbon fiber shell, laser-cut internal structure, and a 250N jet engine with a titanium 3D-printed nozzle, and Salvo says three such Reapers can sustain that speed for four minutes per tank.
Newly released Nuclear Regulatory Commission documents detail 67 reports of drones flying over or near 28 nuclear facilities in 17 states between February 2024 and March 2026. The incidents, obtained via a freedom-of-information request from The Liberation Times, are all marked 'Closed Unresolved,' with no operator identified in any case and roughly half occurring during an eight-week stretch in late 2024 and early 2025.
Atech, the technology subsidiary controlled by Embraer, says it aims to double its operation by 2030 by expanding beyond Brazil. CEO Rodrigo Persico told Bloomberg Línea that rising use of drones and security cameras is driving international demand for its air traffic and unmanned-vehicle management solutions, which have already been deployed in South Africa, India, Paraguay and other Latin American markets.
Former Army intelligence soldier Brett Velicovich built his drone company into a venture valued at $300 million, following a public endorsement from President Trump on social media. The boost in visibility helped the startup attract investor interest and accelerate its growth.
The U.S. military has begun deploying laser weapon systems capable of shooting down drones after decades of development. According to the newsletter Laser Wars, the bigger challenge now is keeping these delicate systems operational in the field and training ordinary soldiers to repair them without specialized equipment.