Η ΓΝΩΣΗ ΤΗΣ ΣΤΟ ΣΧΟΛΕΙΟ ΚΑΙ ΠΕΡΑ ΑΠΟ ΑΥΤΟ
As another year draws to a close, it's time to once again look back at the cycling-related innovations that made the biggest impression on us over the past 365 days. Read on, to check out a dual-chain bike, a whip-fast electronic shock, skeletal pedals and more.
"Go big or go home" was the motto of the ADV motorcycle industry for decades. But for a while now, a small-bore revolution has been gathering pace. The sub-500cc ADV class is now bristling with options, pointing to the next big automotive revolution.
Category: Motorcycles, Transport
Tags: Adventure Bikes, Honda, Royal Enfield, CFMoto, Kawasaki, Suzuki, KTM, Off-road
Nearly half of US adults admit they’d take one of the newer, injectable weight loss drugs, but that number falls significantly when they learn that the weight might come back when the meds are stopped. It’s indicative of a pattern of people discontinuing their weight loss drugs, and it’s something that has medical professionals concerned.
Category: Obesity, Illnesses and conditions, Body & Mind
Tags: GLP-1, Obesity, America, Northwestern University
This year has produced a ton of excellent architecture projects, and with 2025 approaching, it's time to take a look back at some of our favorites. From skinny housing that fits into small inner-city areas, to an extraordinary pair of skyscrapers joined by a bridge, here's our selection of the best buildings from the past 12 months.
Category: Architecture, Lifestyle
Tags: Building and Construction, best-of-2024, Skyscrapers, House, Luxury
Season's greetings! We've almost reached the end of 2024, and as is our custom, the DPReview team would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Boxing Day, Happy Kwanzaa, Joyous Festivus, and Happy Holiday to all. We're incredibly grateful you've stuck with us for yet another orbit around the sun.
2024 was an important year for DPReview symbolically. One year ago today, on December 25, 2023, we celebrated the site's 25th anniversary. For the past 12 months, we've been looking back at some of the moments and milestones from that past quarter century. We couldn't have reached this point without your support.
2024 has also been an important chapter for DPReview as a business. Many of you know we've been going through a period of rebuilding. Every person at DPReview, including many folks behind the scenes, has poured their heart and soul into this effort. Why? Because at a fundamental level, we believe that an internet with DPReview is better than one without it.
The hard work is paying off. You might recall that a couple of months ago, we advertised some new editorial roles on the site, and I'm thrilled to report that we'll have a couple of new faces joining the team early next year.
"At a fundamental level, we believe that an internet with DPReview is better than one without it."A huge factor in that success has been our community. Whether you're a regular in the forums or just pop in to comment under the occasional article, we're grateful for your contributions. Our forums are a goldmine of information, crowd-sourced from knowledgeable people for over 25 years. Our homepage may get a lot of attention, but the forums are where the magic happens: exchanging ideas, forming communities, and forging personal connections.
In fact, we're planning to ramp up support for our online community in 2025. Remember those new staff members I mentioned? One of them will be focused on supporting our forums, including our team of volunteer moderators. This will be the first time we've had a person on our team dedicated to this task, and to be candid, it's overdue.
Before you leave today, we'd love it if you'd take a moment to leave a comment and let us know what made 2024 at DPReview memorable for you. Or, if you're feeling prophetic, please tell us what you'd like to see in the coming year.
From all of us at DPReview – the editors who craft the stories, the tech wizards who keep the lights on, and the business team who keep us on solid footing – we wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season. We're genuinely excited about what the future holds and look forward to having you by our side as we embark on the next 25 years.
Season's greetings! We've almost reached the end of 2024, and as is our custom, the DPReview team would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Boxing Day, Happy Kwanzaa, Joyous Festivus, and Happy Holiday to all. We're incredibly grateful you've stuck with us for yet another orbit around the sun.
2024 was an important year for DPReview symbolically. One year ago today, on December 25, 2023, we celebrated the site's 25th anniversary. For the past 12 months, we've been looking back at some of the moments and milestones from that past quarter century. We couldn't have reached this point without your support.
2024 has also been an important chapter for DPReview as a business. Many of you know we've been going through a period of rebuilding. Every person at DPReview, including many folks behind the scenes, has poured their heart and soul into this effort. Why? Because at a fundamental level, we believe that an internet with DPReview is better than one without it.
The hard work is paying off. You might recall that a couple of months ago, we advertised some new editorial roles on the site, and I'm thrilled to report that we'll have a couple of new faces joining the team early next year.
"At a fundamental level, we believe that an internet with DPReview is better than one without it."A huge factor in that success has been our community. Whether you're a regular in the forums or just pop in to comment under the occasional article, we're grateful for your contributions. Our forums are a goldmine of information, crowd-sourced from knowledgeable people for over 25 years. Our homepage may get a lot of attention, but the forums are where the magic happens: exchanging ideas, forming communities, and forging personal connections.
In fact, we're planning to ramp up support for our online community in 2025. Remember those new staff members I mentioned? One of them will be focused on supporting our forums, including our team of volunteer moderators. This will be the first time we've had a person on our team dedicated to this task, and to be candid, it's overdue.
Before you leave today, we'd love it if you'd take a moment to leave a comment and let us know what made 2024 at DPReview memorable for you. Or, if you're feeling prophetic, please tell us what you'd like to see in the coming year.
From all of us at DPReview – the editors who craft the stories, the tech wizards who keep the lights on, and the business team who keep us on solid footing – we wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season. We're genuinely excited about what the future holds and look forward to having you by our side as we embark on the next 25 years.
Some historic aircraft seem like a barrel for holding superlatives. One of these, the H-4 Hercules, goes one better because it's also at the center of one of the strangest stories involving possibly the 20th century's strangest man – Howard Hughes.
Tags: History, Aircraft, World's Largest
The Himalayas are a bucket-list destination for riders (and non-riders) the world over, a pinnacle of the splendor of nature. Here, the scenery varies from high-altitude desert to abundant rhododendron forests, with spectacular forested gorges rising to skylines of snow-capped peaks.
Category: Motorcycles, Transport
Tags: Travel, Himalayas, India, Tips, Travel and Tourism
Forget LEDs, researchers from the University of Michigan have developed a new type of incandescent light bulb. The device is capable of emitting elliptically polarized light, described as "twisted" light.
Category: Science
Tags: incandescent, University of Michigan, Photonics, Light, Light Bulb
E Ink tablets are great for those who like to jot, scribble or doodle, and don't want to waste reams of paper. But even modern e-notes can be more sustainable. Supernote's 10-inch Manta model is modular, and can be upgraded or repaired as needed.
Category: Mobile Technology, Consumer Tech, Technology
2024 is just about over, so we thought it'd be a good time to look back and identify some trends that started emerging or kept going strong throughout the year. This isn't a recap of all the news that happened – we'll be releasing one of those soon enough – but rather a broad look at the direction the industry is going, which may give us an idea of what to expect throughout 2025.
Global Shutter Sony's a9 III simultaneously ends the exposure for all its pixels, eliminating rolling shutter.It's hard to say that global shutter was a trend in 2024; in terms of consumer mirrorless cameras, there was only one with the tech, the Sony a9 III. Given the benefits it brings, though – the ability to sync with full-power flash at almost any speed, the ability to shoot stills at 120fps, and to use shutter speeds up to 1/80,000 sec to capture the fastest subjects without any blur – we fully expect to see it come to more high-end sports / action cameras.
That's not to say that the a9 III's sensor is perfect. Compared to its rolling shutter counterparts, it takes a hit to absolute image quality with its 250 base ISO, which means it has about a stop more noise than most of its competitors.
However, if you need the performance a global shutter offers, it's likely none of those caveats will be deal breakers. We just mention them to say that we don't expect to see global shutters in cameras that are focused on image quality above all else, such as the Sony a7R series or a follow-up to the Nikon Z8 – at least not in 2025 or even 2026.
Physical color mode controls The Film Simulation dial joined Panasonic's LUT button and Nikon's Picture Control button as the forerunners of the physical color mode control trend.This year, it felt like every other camera had a physical control for color modes. Fujifilm's Film Simulation dial, included on the X-T50 and X-M5, feels like the obvious example, but it was far from the only one: Panasonic put a LUT button on the creator-focused S9 – and then gave its users the option to backport one onto other cameras – and Nikon included a button to bring up its Picture Control menu on the Z50II.
Physical color mode controls aren't a brand-new thing. We saw one on the Olympus Pen-F in 2016. But this is the year they definitively became a trend.
Only time will tell if they stick around. Camera manufacturers will likely be paying very close attention to whether consumers actually value being able to easily change the look of their photos and videos using a physical button or dial. If it turns out they do, this year's crop of cameras likely won't be the last we see with a color mode control.
APS-C shooters have more options than ever Canon and Nikon's higher-end APS-C bodies make a lot more sense now that there's a wider array of good lenses to pair with them.2024 was the year that Canon and Nikon started allowing more and more third-party APS-C lenses onto their systems. At the beginning of the year, you only had a handful of options if you wanted a third-party autofocus lens for RF or Z-mount. Now, you have significantly more.
The change came from some of the usual suspects, as well as some smaller companies. Sigma and Tamron were the first to announce they'd be bringing their lenses to RF mount, but Samyang slid in under the wire with an announcement that it, too, would start producing lenses for the system.
Most of Sigma's DC DN primes have been available on Z-mount since early 2023, but this year, we've seen a slew of autofocus primes become available for the system from brands like Siuri and Viltrox.
There are still holes in the lineup for each brand, though – neither has a great telephoto option, and there aren't any fast zoom Z-mount lenses – which is why we'd like to see this trend continue into 2025. If we're really dreaming, maybe Canon and Nikon will allow more third-party full-frame glass, but we'll save our fantasies for a different article.
The rise of smaller full-frame lenses Looking quite compact for a constant F2.8 full-frame zoomSpeaking of full-frame glass, this year we've also seen a trend of smaller, lighter full-frame lenses. Panasonic's 18-40mm F4.5-6.3 for L-mount is the most obvious example – the company says it's the "smallest and lightest interchangeable zoom with autofocus for full-frame mirrorless cameras" – but Sony's FE 24-50mm F2.8 is also a great, compact new lens that makes a ton of sense on smaller bodies like the a7CR.
Even the big lenses have been getting smaller – Sigma's second-gen 24-70 F2.8 is 10% lighter than its predecessor, a difference that'll definitely be noticeable in hour eight of shooting a wedding. Sony's 85mm F1.4 GM II also boasts a 20% weight reduction compared to the original.
Again, this trend isn't exactly new. We've seen a few lenses that have been largely defined by their size; Canon's original RF 70-200mm F2.8 from 2019 and Sony's 70-200mm F2.8 GM II from 2022 come to mind. But with further advances in optics and manufacturing techniques, we hope to see even more full-frame lenses come out that are smaller and lighter than the ones that came before... even if they still won't be able to out-compact Fujifilm's XF 16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR II.
The AI age DALL-E, Midjourney, Meta AI, StableDiffusion and Gemini are just a few of the several AI image generators that became increasingly popular in 2024.Pretty much every industry has had its own deluge of AI-related news in 2024, and photography is no exception. The continued proliferation of AI-generated images and text has sparked near-endless debates about what place, if any, the technology has in photography, with some people even taking the extreme position that the ubiquitous ability to generate images will destroy the art form altogether (assuming those comments too, aren't AI-generated).
It's not all existential doom and gloom, though, as some companies have used AI to try and improve the experience of photography rather than replace it. For instance, the new Canon EOS R1 and R5 II have Action Priority AF modes, which use machine learning-based algorithms to determine which subject to focus on during key moments in certain sports. It could be thought of as context recognition, rather than the subject recognition that's become table stakes for most cameras. The EOS R1 and R5 II also have built-in AI-derived noise-reduction and upscaling functions, should you choose to use them.
AI-powered denoising and upscaling are also making their way into photo editing software, such as Lightroom or the apps from companies like Topaz Labs. And while Adobe has added plenty of generative AI features to Photoshop, we've also seen other AI-powered improvements, such as its distraction removal mode and Adobe Camera Raw's new Adaptive profile and reflection removal feature.
However you feel about the technology, it's almost certainly here to stay. The good news is that another facet of the AI trend this year has been companies working on improving transparency around AI, creating tools to prove a photo's authenticity or show exactly how it's been manipulated, either by AI or through more conventional means. The tech is far from ubiquitous, but it seems likely that we'll see it spread to more and more platforms as AI becomes even more prevalent.
2024 is just about over, so we thought it'd be a good time to look back and identify some trends that started emerging or kept going strong throughout the year. This isn't a recap of all the news that happened – we'll be releasing one of those soon enough – but rather a broad look at the direction the industry is going, which may give us an idea of what to expect throughout 2025.
Global Shutter Sony's a9 III simultaneously ends the exposure for all its pixels, eliminating rolling shutter.It's hard to say that global shutter was a trend in 2024; in terms of consumer mirrorless cameras, there was only one with the tech, the Sony a9 III. Given the benefits it brings, though – the ability to sync with full-power flash at almost any speed, the ability to shoot stills at 120fps, and to use shutter speeds up to 1/80,000 sec to capture the fastest subjects without any blur – we fully expect to see it come to more high-end sports / action cameras.
That's not to say that the a9 III's sensor is perfect. Compared to its rolling shutter counterparts, it takes a hit to absolute image quality with its 250 base ISO, which means it has about a stop more noise than most of its competitors.
However, if you need the performance a global shutter offers, it's likely none of those caveats will be deal breakers. We just mention them to say that we don't expect to see global shutters in cameras that are focused on image quality above all else, such as the Sony a7R series or a follow-up to the Nikon Z8 – at least not in 2025 or even 2026.
Physical color mode controls The Film Simulation dial joined Panasonic's LUT button and Nikon's Picture Control button as the forerunners of the physical color mode control trend.This year, it felt like every other camera had a physical control for color modes. Fujifilm's Film Simulation dial, included on the X-T50 and X-M5, feels like the obvious example, but it was far from the only one: Panasonic put a LUT button on the creator-focused S9 – and then gave its users the option to backport one onto other cameras – and Nikon included a button to bring up its Picture Control menu on the Z50II.
Physical color mode controls aren't a brand-new thing. We saw one on the Olympus Pen-F in 2016. But this is the year they definitively became a trend.
Only time will tell if they stick around. Camera manufacturers will likely be paying very close attention to whether consumers actually value being able to easily change the look of their photos and videos using a physical button or dial. If it turns out they do, this year's crop of cameras likely won't be the last we see with a color mode control.
APS-C shooters have more options than ever Canon and Nikon's higher-end APS-C bodies make a lot more sense now that there's a wider array of good lenses to pair with them.2024 was the year that Canon and Nikon started allowing more and more third-party APS-C lenses onto their systems. At the beginning of the year, you only had a handful of options if you wanted a third-party autofocus lens for RF or Z-mount. Now, you have significantly more.
The change came from some of the usual suspects, as well as some smaller companies. Sigma and Tamron were the first to announce they'd be bringing their lenses to RF mount, but Samyang slid in under the wire with an announcement that it, too, would start producing lenses for the system.
Most of Sigma's DC DN primes have been available on Z-mount since early 2023, but this year, we've seen a slew of autofocus primes become available for the system from brands like Siuri and Viltrox.
There are still holes in the lineup for each brand, though – neither has a great telephoto option, and there aren't any fast zoom Z-mount lenses – which is why we'd like to see this trend continue into 2025. If we're really dreaming, maybe Canon and Nikon will allow more third-party full-frame glass, but we'll save our fantasies for a different article.
The rise of smaller full-frame lenses Looking quite compact for a constant F2.8 full-frame zoomSpeaking of full-frame glass, this year we've also seen a trend of smaller, lighter full-frame lenses. Panasonic's 18-40mm F4.5-6.3 for L-mount is the most obvious example – the company says it's the "smallest and lightest interchangeable zoom with autofocus for full-frame mirrorless cameras" – but Sony's FE 24-50mm F2.8 is also a great, compact new lens that makes a ton of sense on smaller bodies like the a7CR.
Even the big lenses have been getting smaller – Sigma's second-gen 24-70 F2.8 is 10% lighter than its predecessor, a difference that'll definitely be noticeable in hour eight of shooting a wedding. Sony's 85mm F1.4 GM II also boasts a 20% weight reduction compared to the original.
Again, this trend isn't exactly new. We've seen a few lenses that have been largely defined by their size; Canon's original RF 70-200mm F2.8 from 2019 and Sony's 70-200mm F2.8 GM II from 2022 come to mind. But with further advances in optics and manufacturing techniques, we hope to see even more full-frame lenses come out that are smaller and lighter than the ones that came before... even if they still won't be able to out-compact Fujifilm's XF 16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR II.
The AI age DALL-E, Midjourney, Meta AI, StableDiffusion and Gemini are just a few of the several AI image generators that became increasingly popular in 2024.Pretty much every industry has had its own deluge of AI-related news in 2024, and photography is no exception. The continued proliferation of AI-generated images and text has sparked near-endless debates about what place, if any, the technology has in photography, with some people even taking the extreme position that the ubiquitous ability to generate images will destroy the art form altogether (assuming those comments too, aren't AI-generated).
It's not all existential doom and gloom, though, as some companies have used AI to try and improve the experience of photography rather than replace it. For instance, the new Canon EOS R1 and R5 II have Action Priority AF modes, which use machine learning-based algorithms to determine which subject to focus on during key moments in certain sports. It could be thought of as context recognition, rather than the subject recognition that's become table stakes for most cameras. The EOS R1 and R5 II also have built-in AI-derived noise-reduction and upscaling functions, should you choose to use them.
AI-powered denoising and upscaling are also making their way into photo editing software, such as Lightroom or the apps from companies like Topaz Labs. And while Adobe has added plenty of generative AI features to Photoshop, we've also seen other AI-powered improvements, such as its distraction removal mode and Adobe Camera Raw's new Adaptive profile and reflection removal feature.
However you feel about the technology, it's almost certainly here to stay. The good news is that another facet of the AI trend this year has been companies working on improving transparency around AI, creating tools to prove a photo's authenticity or show exactly how it's been manipulated, either by AI or through more conventional means. The tech is far from ubiquitous, but it seems likely that we'll see it spread to more and more platforms as AI becomes even more prevalent.
A new study turned up a surprising effect of having caffeine with a sweetener. For some java drinkers, it could be a way to get more out of the beverage. For others, though, it might be best to skip the sugar, especially at night.
Category: Diet & Nutrition, Wellness & Healthy Living, Body & Mind
Tags: Coffee, Caffeine, Sleep, University of Hiroshima, Circadian Rhythms
It seems to be an unwritten rule that when stuff breaks, there never seems to be a toolbox nearby. That's where everyday carry multitools can help, and the latest to blaze a Kickstarter trail is the titanium UltraFix Driver from TrekGear.
Tags: Everyday Carry, Multitools, Driver, Kickstarter
German eVTOL startup Lilium has ceased operations as of this week, sunsetting a decade-long effort funded with over US$1 billion to build electric air taxis, with nary a single aircraft delivered.
Category: Transport
An innovative company has done away with the one-size-fits-all model of seating, with a chair that is more like a furniture Transformer, letting you adapt it to your needs, rather than you adapt to its static design. And it looks like a statement piece in the process.
Category: Around The Home, Lifestyle
Tags: Kickstarter, Chair, Furniture, Interior Design, adaptive
It's really happening: Honda, Nissan, and Mitsubishi are joining forces to operate together under a single holding company, in a bid to stave off fierce competition around the world.
Category: Automotive, Transport
Tags: Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi
After the FDA proposed pulling some over-the-counter cold and flu medications from shelves in the US, an Australian law firm has launched a class action suit against pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, claiming that it has knowingly marketed and sold ineffective decongestants for years.
Category: Wellness & Healthy Living, Body & Mind
Tags: Big pharma, Decongestant, Methamphetamine, FDA, Class action
Since its debut in 2000, the Suzuki DR-Z400S has been a mainstay in the dual-sport motorcycle market. It has been a favorite among adventure and off-road enthusiasts for decades due to its reliability and adaptability.
Category: Motorcycles, Transport
Tags: Suzuki, Enduro, Off-grid, Dirt Bikes
In order for a VR environment to seem real, it definitely helps if you can experience the sensation of touch within that virtual world. A special sleeve could soon allow people to better do so, using air instead of electric motors.
Category: Wearables, Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: Stanford University, MIT, Virtual Reality, Haptics, Inflatable, Touch, Soft Robotics
