Tech
DJI’s First 360 Camera Gives Insta360 a Run for Its Money
Price-wise, the £410 ($550) launch cost for the Standard Combo undercuts Insta360’s comparable bundles by a fair margin, which only adds to the appeal. This package comes with the camera, one battery, a rubber lens cover, a soft carry case, a cleaning cloth, and a USB-C to USB-C cable. For those who want a more complete starter kit, the Adventure Combo costs £540 ($700) and has all of the above plus a selfie stick, magnetic mount, three batteries, and a charging case.
While the Osmo 360 is available pretty much everywhere else, DJI has decided not to launch in the US “through official channels” at this time, probably due to the tariff situation and DJI’s ongoing difficulties with the US federal government. A DJI spokesperson tells me there is no estimated timeline for a US release, though things could change in the future.
Oddly, you can technically buy the Osmo 360 through retail channels like Amazon, Adorama, and B&H, though stock may be limited. DJI’s Mavic 4 Pro drone was similarly available at these retailers at launch a few months ago, but is now out of stock.
Supersized Sensors
Returning to performance, the Osmo 360’s dual 1/1.1-inch square sensors are its main selling point, so I was curious to see if the larger 2.4μm pixels (twice the size of the sensor pixels on the Insta360 X5) and support for 10-bit color made a difference in tricky lighting conditions.
In bright daylight, the Osmo 360’s footage is sharp and detailed, with colors that pop, sometimes too much. On my video of a bicycle ride along the coast, the sky veered into that slightly artificial turquoise you can get when processing becomes a tad over-enthusiastic. Still, the stabilization is rock-solid, and the automatic selfie stick removal works flawlessly. Shooting at 8K 50 frames per second in 360 mode (or 4K 120 fps in single-lens mode) gave me plenty of flexibility for post-shoot reframing, and the D-Log M profile held up well when I graded some clips in post.
Alongside its price-friendly iPhone 17e and M4 iPad Air yesterday, Apple just announced a few updates to the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and its rarely-refreshed desktop display line.
The MacBook Air has now been updated to the latest M5 chip. It’s a fairly modest upgrade, but it brings it up to speed with Apple’s latest processor that debuted in the MacBook Pro last fall. There are no other major hardware changes—it now comes with 512 GB of starting storage with “faster SSD technology”—but you can still get the Air in either a 13- or 15-inch screen size.
This laptop also features Apple’s N1 wireless chip, which includes Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 for the latest connectivity standards. It still comes with the standard 16 GB of RAM, and sadly, there’s a $100 price bump to account for the extra storage. It now starts at $1,099 for the 13-inch model and $1,299 for the 15-inch model. Apple says you can preorder it tomorrow, with sales kicking off on March 11.
More interestingly, Apple is expanding the M5 chip series with the M5 Pro and M5 Max, now available in the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro. Like previous generations of Apple silicon, the “Pro” and “Max” configurations add significantly improved multi-core CPU and graphics performance.
The M5 Pro and M5 Max can be configured with up to 18 CPU cores (12 performance cores and 6 “super” cores), up from 16 on the M4 Max. The M5 Pro can scale up to 20 GPU cores, while the M5 Max extends up to 40 GPU cores. Thanks to higher memory bandwidth, more efficient Neural Engine, and improved GPU architecture, Apple says the M5 Pro and M5 Max have “over 4X the peak CPU compute for AI” compared to the last generation and offer 20 percent better GPU performance.
The new MacBook Pros don’t include any other hardware changes; things have stayed largely the same since 2021—same port selection, Mini-LED display, speakers, and webcam. Even the claimed 24-hour battery life hasn’t changed from the M4 models, which came out in late 2024. Interestingly, as recently as last week, Bloomberg reported that Apple plans to launch a more significant update to the MacBook Pro later this fall, which will reportedly debut the M6 chip, an OLED touchscreen, and a thinner chassis.
Like the MacBook Air, all versions of the M5 Pro or M5 Max MacBook Pros come with twice the storage and a slightly higher starting price. Coming with 1 TB, the 14-inch M5 Pro now starts at $2,199, and the 16-inch model at $2,699. That’s $200 more than last year’s machines. Meanwhile, M5 Max prices start at $3,599.
Vendor or supplier lock-in has been a longstanding topic of discussion, as far back as my first days in IT all the way back in 2002, and probably before. It was a common complaint of many large enterprises who felt penalised by multi-year managed service contracts that didn’t quite deliver on all the things they were promised, yet had no real means to do anything about it.
This was also an issue during the formative years of hyperscale cloud. People didn’t forget the pain they had experienced. As a result many discussions have focused on how to prevent vendor lock-in, concerned by the lack of interoperability to pick and choose solutions which were largely limited by the cloud providers’ ecosystem and service offerings.
Platformisation faces the same challenges, where financial efficiencies are weighed against functional and innovation limitations. Having worked for a hyperscale cloud company previously, the general consensus was “multi-cloud lowers capabilities to the lowest common denominator”, while customers complained “make it easier for us to do multi-cloud”. So where does the happy medium sit between these two ideas?
This is where open standards play such an important and pivotal role. Open standards are the common language that allow different software systems, hardware, and platforms to talk to one another without needing a translator. They are the antithesis of vendor lock-in and are critical for cross-platform integration for several key reasons:
- Interoperability: Open standards (like IPSIE or Oauth) operate across vendors and allow customers to pick and choose which solutions they can use, without being limited to a single vendor or technology stack. Developers don’t have to reverse-engineer how a proprietary system works. If a platform supports an open standard (like Oauth for logging in), the integration path is already documented and understood.
- Future-proofing and longevity: Proprietary integrations are fragile. If a vendor changes their internal code or goes out of business, the integration breaks. Open standards bring stability. Open standards are maintained by independent bodies (like the OpenID Foundation for IPSIE). They evolve slowly and deliberately, ensuring backward compatibility.
- Avoiding the ‘translation tax’: Without open standards, every integration requires a custom translation layer. When two platforms speak the same open standard (e.g., two email servers using SMTP), they communicate directly. You avoid the processing overhead and potential for errors that come with converting data from one proprietary format to another constantly.
- Innovation and competition: Open standards lower the barrier to entry for new competitors, which benefits the ecosystem as a whole. You can build a best-in-class tech stack. You might use a CRM from Salesforce, email from Google, and a database from Amazon. They all support open standards (like RESTful APIs), so you can stitch them together into a unified workflow.
Open standards are the fundamental bedrock of modern platformisation strategies. They shift the architectural paradigm from monolithic silos – where one vendor does everything – to modular ecosystems (where distinct, best-in-class tools connect seamlessly). This allows organisations to grow and adapt their technology stack when needed and ensures platformisation is not a one-way decision.
Stephen McDermid is EMEA CSO at Okta
Read more on Cloud security
L.L. Bean is infamous for its outdoorsy appeal, ranging from outerwear and supplies to withstand the elements to laid-back lifestyle products. The company was established in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean in Maine. It remains headquartered there today, continually rolling out revered classics and updated essentials for today’s nature lovers. Take the Bean Boots: what started as L.L. Bean’s premier product ultimately helped shape the brand into what it is today. This definitive shoe, which can be worn on hiking trails and rain-slicked city streets alike, has remained true to the original version. If you’ve ever wanted to capture the essence of being a rugged Mainer or recreate a cozy cabin at home, here are plenty of L.L. Bean promo code options at your fingertips.
Get 10% Off Your First Order With an L.L.Bean Promo Code
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Take Up to 75% Off Outdoor Gear in the L.L.Bean Sale Section
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This is a different sort of two-for-one special: twice a day, L.L. Bean posts new sales at 6 AM and 2 PM sharp, Eastern time. While the two-a-day daily markdown is not super expansive in terms of inventory up for grabs, what is posted for sale usually comes at a heavily discounted price akin to deals you’d see on Black Friday.
This L.L. Bean sale is like an online treasure hunt. The daily markdown sale involves a new deal posted daily from 6 AM to midnight Eastern time. Inventory leans toward gear, such as backpacks, blankets, and shoes.
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Being in the medical field or a first responder can often be a tough, thankless job. But, there’s a special L.L. Bean sale for medical workers and first responders so that you can stock up on supplies for when you rest and recharge in your down time. Use the L.L. Bean first responder discount for 10% off—be sure to verify your license status through SheerID.
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