The Snap Pixy Drone is designed to take off and hang over its owner while taking photos and videos before landing in the owner’s hand.
Snap Inc. there’s a replacement for cheap phone stands and the awkward outstretched arms of modern self-timer: a yellow square-shaped drone with a flying camera that costs $ 230, weighs about a quarter of a pound, and hovers around to take pictures of you automatically. The original inspiration for a pocket-sized drone called Pixy was, “What if Tinker Bell was your personal photographer?” CEO Evan Spiegel said in an interview. “On the one hand, you have these bulky, almost dangerous drones that you have to control manually with a remote control. And on the other hand, you have a phone that can’t fly. ” After shooting, the Pixy can land in the owner’s hand autonomously. Images are automatically uploaded to the owner’s Snapchat app. Available for pre-order in the US and France and will begin shipping in late May.
Snap, which calls itself a camera company, is known for its social media app Snapchat, popular with young people for sending disappearing annotated photos and videos. Snap has been working on Pixy since at least 2017 and has reportedly developed the device with Beijing-based drone company Zero Zero Robotics. The drone is another product emerging from Snap’s hardware labs and aims to continue its quest for the still embryonic augmented reality market – a widespread technology that superimposes digital graphics on real-world images.
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Last spring, the company announced a fourth version of its glasses, equipped with a camera called Spectacles, with built-in augmented reality technology, but they remain available only to developers. Apple Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. also work on augmented reality glasses, as well as products dedicated to virtual reality and mixed reality, which combines the two.
Spiegel says Snap’s focus is solely on AR. “Our bet is firmly on the real world. We just believe that people enjoy the real world and enjoy being with their friends, but also that it makes computers much more familiar, accessible and easier to use. ”
The company announced a deal with concert giant Live Nation Entertainment Inc. to develop augmented reality experiences for performances and music festivals such as Lollapalooza. Special effects can stretch from the stage and appear on phones and ultimately to concert goers. Concertgoing meets the demographics of the app: Snap says it reaches more than 75% of 13- to 34-year-olds in more than 20 countries.
Snap also revealed that it has acquired a San Francisco-based AR company called Forma, which has developed technology that allows people to create photorealistic avatars for themselves. Snap uses Forma technology to allow its users to visualize how they try on clothes, part of a broad impetus to provide augmented reality tools to retailers, fashion brands and consumers and help them shop from the app. Snapchat users are already familiar with avatars since the company acquired Bitmoji maker in 2016, custom animated stickers that people can send in their messages to respond to the other’s content.
Snap, which was remarkably released by recent drama rivals such as Meta and Twitter Inc., is also using its annual event to update its user growth. He said the Snapchat app already has more than 600 million active users a month, up from 500 million a year ago, making it bigger than Twitter, but not as big as Instagram or another growing rival, TikTok.
Speaking about the Twitter turmoil and Elon Musk’s planned purchase, Spiegel said: “I think Elon is an experienced user with a very great insight into Twitter and where to get it in the future. I am optimistic that they expect a lot of success. “
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