Skip to main content

Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Blimp drones, portable theaters, and more

At any given moment, there are approximately a zillion crowdfunding campaigns on the web. Take a stroll through Kickstarter or Indiegogo and you’ll find no shortage of weird, useless, and downright stupid projects out there — alongside some real gems. In this column, we cut through all the worthless wearables and Oculus Rift ripoffs to round up the week’s most unusual, ambitious, and exciting projects. But don’t grab your wallet just yet. Keep in mind that any crowdfunded project can fail — even the most well-intentioned. Do your homework before cutting a check for the gadget of your dreams.

OIO Amp — Foldable iPad speaker system

 

Tablets are often marketed as portable entertainment centers, and they certainly are a nice way to watch movies or play games on the go. The only thing keeping an iPad from being a true home entertainment system is the sound quality from the speakers, which just have the boost necessary to create engrossing soundscapes. The team at OIO wants to change that with the Amp, a portable Bluetooth speaker designed specifically to hold an iPad.

The Amp uses an aluminum frame, making it lightweight but sturdy. The two speakers can fold into the frame, allowing for easy carrying. Of course, the most important part of any speaker system is the sound. How does the Amp perform? We had a chance to test the Amp recently, and our reviewer noted that it “offered some impressive stereo imaging and also provided playback with virtually zero digital lag.” Even if you do not own an iPad, the Amp could still be for you; although the case is only built to clamp on to an iPad, any Bluetooth tablet or phone should be able connect and play audio through the speakers.

Read more here.

Mune — Electronic instrument

Electronic music is popular, but as the creators of the Mune note, many people find live performances odd. After all, it’s hard to get a feel of what electronic artists are doing on stage as they fiddle with their various knobs and sliders. What electronic music needs is a way for such artists to play organically. Enter the Mune, a digital instrument that anyone can pick up and play, giving electronic artists all the interaction of an acoustic instrument.

Using the various touch controls on the Mune, users can simultaneously emulate instruments, bring in drum beats, adjust pitch, and mix sound. Using the companion software, you can assign different functions to the different buttons. The Mune appears to be small and lightweight enough to be easily picked up, and the buttons are arranged in such a way as to encourage users to experiment with various combinations. Creating an entirely new instrument is a bold move, but the Mune seems like it’s on the right track.

Read more here.

The Wolfe — External GPU for laptops

One of the biggest drawbacks for most consumer laptops is the lack of power. If you want to play high-end games, you may need to invest thousands in a gaming laptop, which are often heavy and produce a lot of heat. This is particularly troublesome for Macbook owners, as even the Macbook Pro is not designed with gaming and virtual reality in mind. The creators of the Wolfe noted that just as one can buy an external hard drive to give a laptop more storage, it could be possible to make an external GPU to give laptops a performance boost. Thus, the Wolfe was born.

Weighing roughly 2 pounds, the Wolfe is certainly portable, and can plug into Thunderbolt 1, 2, and 3 ports, so older and newer Mac owners can use it. The box contains a Nvidia GTX 950 (or 970 in the Wolfe Pro), and when you plug your computer in, it offloads all the difficult tasks of rendering graphics to the Wolfe, rather than the onboard graphics card. This is nice for Mac users, as they should be able to play not only the latest games without framerate issues, but even use VR devices like the HTC Vive.

Read more here.

Falcon Airship — Inflatable drone

Drones are a popular hobby these days, and it is not hard to see why. They take the long-established fun of RC cars to the sky, and you can even use them to take pictures from up on high. For as cool as they are to some, however, drones can be a nuisance to others. Their distinctive buzzing can be irritating to people on the ground — it can also be a problem if you are trying to record footage with audio — and there is always the worry about a drone falling out of the sky and landing on somebody.

Arctic Sky hopes to provide a quieter, safer alternative to drones with the Falcon. Essentially a personal blimp, the Falcon is made of a lightweight, tear-resistant fabric that can be filled with helium. According to the project outline, the Falcon will be able to stay afloat for more than 24 hours and is quiet, so you can record audio without the sound of blades whirring. Try finding a drone that can do that.

Read more here.

Sienci Mill One — Desktop CNC milling machine

Modern 3D printers are a neat way to create various models and objects, but they can be slow, and only work with specific materials. Although programmable milling machines exist and are capable of carving various materials into any shape you want, they’re simply too large and expensive for personal use. At least, until now. The Sienci Mill One, designed by a group of students from Ontario’s University of Waterloo, is a tabletop CNC milling machine that gives consumers the ability to create objects without needing a lot of space or money.

Operating on three axes, the Sienci uses small rotary tools to carve a variety of materials, including wood, aluminum, brass, polycarbonate, and foam. The machine measures 250 x 200 x 100 millimeters, and the creators claim it will only require a few hours to assemble. The Sienci should work with any g-code, and the makers have partnered with Onshape and Kiri:Moto to create accessible apps for beginners.

Read more here.

Will Nicol
Will Nicol is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends. He covers a variety of subjects, particularly emerging technologies, movies…
Sebastian Stan lays out Bucky’s future after Thunderbolts
Sebastian Stan in Thunderbolts.

There are some spoilers ahead for the ending of Marvel's Thunderbolts. Stop reading now if you don't want to be spoiled.

Earlier this year, Captain America: Brave New World briefly introduced a new direction for James "Bucky" Barnes, a character Sebastian Stan has been playing since 2011 in Captain America: The First Avenger. In Brave New World, the former Winter Soldier apparently retired from being a reformed hero and went into politics by running for Congress. Thunderbolts reveals that Bucky won his election to the House of Representatives. But his stay in Congress was short.

Read more
Jeep Compass EV breaks cover—but will it come to the U.S.?
jeep compass ev us newjeepcompassfirsteditionhawaii  4

Jeep just pulled the wraps off the all-new Compass EV, and while it’s an exciting leap into the electric future, there's a catch—it might not make it to the U.S. anytime soon.
This is a brand new electric version of the Jeep Compass, and being built on Stellantis' STLA platform—the same architecture underpinning models like the Peugeot E-3008 and E-5008—it looks much slicker and packs a lot more inside than previous versions of the Compass.
Let’s start with what’s cool: the new Compass EV is packing up to 404 miles of range on a single charge, a 74 kWh battery, and fast-charging that gets you from 20% to 80% in about 30 minutes. Not bad for a compact SUV with Jeep's badge on the nose.
There are two versions: a front-wheel-drive model with 213 horsepower and a beefier all-wheel-drive version with 375 horsepower. That AWD setup isn’t just for looks—it can handle 20% inclines even without front traction, and comes with extra ground clearance and better off-road angles. In short, it’s still a Jeep.
The design's been refreshed too, and inside you’ll find the kind of tech and comfort you’d expect in a modern EV—sleek, smart, and ready for both city streets and dirt trails.
But here’s the thing: even though production starts soon in Italy, Jeep hasn’t said whether the Compass EV is coming to America. And the signs aren’t promising.
Plans to build it in Canada were recently put on hold, with production now delayed until at least early 2026. Some of that might have to do with possible U.S. tariffs on Canadian and Mexican vehicles—adding a layer of uncertainty to the whole rollout.
According to Kelley Blue Book, a Stellantis spokesperson confirmed that the company has “temporarily paused work on the next-generation Jeep Compass, including activities at” the Canadian plant that was originally meant to build the model. They added that Stellantis is “reassessing its product strategy in North America” to better match customer needs and demand for different powertrain options.
So while Europe and other markets are gearing up to get the Compass EV soon, American drivers might be left waiting—or miss out entirely.
That’s a shame, because on paper, this electric Jeep hits a lot of sweet spots. Let’s just hope it finds a way over here.

Read more
Charlie Cox singles out his least favorite Daredevil: Born Again episode
Charlie Cox in Daredevil: Born Again.

Daredevil: Born Again season 1 was largely reconceived after the 2023 actor and writer strikes. Dario Scardapane -- a veteran of The Punisher series on Netflix -- was brought in to be the new showrunner and he made a lot of changes to the series that were well-received. However, there's one episode that Scardapane didn't really change at all, and it happens to be the least favorite episode of Daredevil: Born Again's leading man, Charlie Cox.

During an appearance on The Playlist, Cox noted that he wasn't very fond of the season's fifth episode, "With Interest," which was a largely standalone episode that featured his character, Matt Murdock, in a bank during a hostage crisis.

Read more