Loz Blain

Melbourne

Senior Features Writer and Media Producer at New Atlas

Editorial Director of my favorite emerging technology news site. Father of two magnificent young savages. Aspiring musician.

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Articles

Extraordinary kite-powered sailboat closes in on world speed record

3 weeks ago | newatlas.com | Loz Blain

Enjoy some hairy onboard footage as this alien spaceship of a sailboat records the second-fastest speed in history. The outright record is now well within reach, and this outrageous kite-powered boat is designed to absolutely smash it. You might expect the world's fastest sailboat to levitate out of the water on a low-drag hydrofoil – but no. Swiss team SP80 has chosen a super-lightweight trimaran hull design, 10 m (33 ft) long and 7 m (23 ft) wide, that'll stay in contact with the water.
Klein's flying supercar rolls out in 2026, with an amphibian to follow

1 month ago | newatlas.com | Loz Blain

More than 30 years in the making, this long-range, high-speed, flight-tested, two-seat flying car is slated to be certified later this year, with customer deliveries beginning in early 2026. The team tells us an amphibious version could follow.
Review: Narwal Freo Pro robovac aces long hair on a budget

1 month ago | newatlas.com | Loz Blain

Long hair can be a giant pain when it comes to robot vacuums, winding around the main and side brushes until things grind to a halt. Narwal's affordable Freo Pro robovac and mop comprehensively solves this problem with a pair of smart innovations. Let's deal with the basics first: don't be fooled by the "Pro" in the name – the Freo Pro is actually Narwal's most affordable robovac at the moment. But it competes well on features and performance against others at premium price points.
The recipe: How SiFly reinvented drones for staggering endurance

1 month ago | newatlas.com | Loz Blain

SiFly says its drones fly 4X longer, 10X farther, 10X quieter and carry 5X more payload than the competition, while manufacturing in the USA at China-competitive prices. And they don't need parachutes. We asked how... Here's the secret sauce!SiFly's claims are absolutely outrageous. Multirotor drones have been around in numbers for more than 10 years now, Chinese companies like DJI have had a decade to evolve and optimize these relatively simple airframes.
Wildly overpowered ebike lets you pedal along at highway speeds

1 month ago | newatlas.com | Loz Blain

We were stunned at the power and sheer audacity of the Stealth B-52 back in 2015 when we first rode it. Ebikes still felt like a pretty new thing at the time, and this Aussie monster threw all questions of street legality out the window to show what these machines could be without regulatory shackles holding them back. In 2025, ebikes are well and truly embedded in society. Those who try one instantly see why they've become so popular.
American-made drone smashes performance metrics at Chinese prices

1 month ago | newatlas.com | Loz Blain

A new drone company has exploded out of stealth mode in the USA with incredible claims about its first product, saying it'll fly 4X longer, 10X further, 10X quieter and carry 5X more payload than leading competitors – while competing with China on cost. Let's start with the numbers. Silicon Valley-based SiFly has announced two industrially targeted models with some absolutely ludicrous stats attached. The smaller Q12 platform carries up to 10 lb (4.5 kg) of payload.
American-made drone smashes performance metrics at Chinese prices

1 month ago | flipboard.com | Loz Blain

15 hours agoDonald Trump doesn’t care about how unpopular he is—or how unpopular he can get. His priorities lie elsewhere. Last week, President Donald Trump sat for an interview with Time magazine to reflect on the first 100 days of his second term in the White House. Trump, as he tends to do when discussing …
'Spark of Life' demo puts quantum chips in control of AI robot

2 months ago | newatlas.com | Loz Blain

Ultra-deep tech startup Nirvanic put on a fairly humble-looking robotics demo at Jeff Bezos's private MARS 2025 conference – but it may go down as a landmark moment both in AI robotics, and in our understanding of consciousness itself. We're going to some strange places with this one, folks, so I'm compelled to point out from the very beginning that Nirvanic is a legit company, founded by one of the most remarkable innovators I've run across in 20-odd years of technology journalism.
Whisper Aero secures funding to test UltraQuiet electric aircraft propulsion

2 months ago | newatlas.com | Loz Blain

Last time we checked in with Whisper Aero, we found this aviation-focused company deep into a side quest, building and demonstrating a leaf blower that moves 40% more air, using 40% less power, and making half the perceived noise of a range of standard blowers. The company certainly wasn't founded to build garden tools – but then, what better way to demonstrate a very nifty new way of pushing air?
Faraday-caged drone successfully triggers and directs lightning strikes

2 months ago | newatlas.com | Loz Blain

In a world first, Japanese researchers flew a lightning-proof drone in a thunderstorm, using it to induce and direct natural lightning strikes. The team is now working on how this flying lightning rod might capture and store lightning energy. There's a decent bit of energy in the average lightning strike, as you might expect; Real Clear Science estimates about a billion joules. That translates to around 278 kilowatt-hours, or enough to charge a standard Hyundai Ioniq 6 nearly six times over.