The massive budget bill signed into law by President Donald Trump on Independence Day didn’t include everything on Big Tech’s wishlist, but the industry’s largest players stand to gain significantly from several provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Technology
How drone light shows have become a Fourth of July tradition
Ah, the Fourth of July. A quintessential American celebration filled with backyard barbecues, parades and, of course, those dazzling fireworks displays lighting up the night sky. In recent years, a new contender has been stealing the spotlight from the traditional pyrotechnic extravaganzas.
Imagine this: hundreds, even thousands of tiny drones taking flight in perfectly choreographed formations, painting the sky with mesmerizing patterns and vibrant colors. It’s like a high-tech ballet, but instead of dancers, you have these nimble little robots performing an aerial light show that would make even the most seasoned fireworks technician green with envy.
While fireworks have long been the traditional way to celebrate America’s independence, an increasing number of cities across the nation are embracing an innovative alternative: drone light shows.
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Drone light show (Sky Elements)
What are drone light shows?
Drone light shows are a mesmerizing spectacle where hundreds or even thousands of drones take flight in perfectly synchronized formations, painting the night sky with intricate patterns, vibrant colors and even 3D animations. These aerial displays leverage cutting-edge technology to choreograph the drones’ movements and illumination, creating a high-tech performance that can be seamlessly synchronized with music.
Unlike traditional fireworks displays, drone light shows offer an unmatched level of precision and creativity. The drones can form intricate shapes like the American flag, morph into different designs and create captivating visual effects that seem to defy gravity. Each drone is equipped with bright LED lights, allowing for a vast array of colors and intensities to be displayed.
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Drone light show (Sky Elements)
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Unraveling the technology behind the magic
While drone light shows captivate audiences with their mesmerizing visuals and choreography, the true magic lies in the cutting-edge technology that powers these aerial spectacles. Behind the scenes, a symphony of advanced systems and intricate programming work in perfect harmony to bring these dazzling displays to life.
At the heart of every drone light show is a fleet of specialized unmanned aerial vehicles, typically quadcopters or hexacopters, designed for precise maneuvering and equipped with powerful LED lighting systems. These drones are engineered to meet stringent specifications, ensuring stable flight, extended battery life, and the ability to carry and control intricate light displays.
Orchestrating the synchronized movements of hundreds or thousands of drones is no small feat. This is where sophisticated flight control systems come into play, utilizing complex algorithms and real-time data processing to choreograph each drone’s position, altitude and orientation with pinpoint accuracy. These systems not only ensure seamless coordination but also incorporate safety protocols to prevent midair collisions and maintain formation integrity.
The true magic, however, lies in the LED light systems that transform these drones into aerial canvases. Utilizing advanced lighting technology, each drone can produce a vast array of colors, intensities and patterns, allowing for the creation of intricate designs, 3D animations and captivating visual effects.
The software behind these light shows is equally impressive. It employs algorithms and programming techniques to map out and synchronize the illumination sequences with precision, often in tandem with music or other multimedia elements.
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Behind the scenes of a drone light show (Sky Elements)
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The pros: An eco-friendly and risk-free spectacle
Drone light shows offer a compelling alternative to traditional fireworks, boasting significant environmental and safety advantages. Unlike their pyrotechnic counterparts, which release harmful pollutants and pose fire hazards, these aerial displays are powered by rechargeable batteries, producing zero emissions or debris. The absence of explosions and sparks eliminates the risk of air and water pollution from scattered metal particles and smoke, making drone shows a more eco-conscious choice.
Additionally, the lack of loud blasts and bright flashes makes these events more inclusive, allowing individuals with sensory sensitivities, such as veterans with PTSD and animals, to enjoy the mesmerizing visuals without anxiety or distress.
Moreover, drone light shows significantly reduce the potential for accidents and injuries associated with fireworks displays. With no risk of malfunctions or mishandling of explosive materials, these high-tech performances offer a safer option, particularly for crowded public events.
Drone light show (Sky Elements)
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The cons: Cost and logistics
While drone light shows may be more environmentally friendly, they can also be more expensive to produce, at least initially. The cost of purchasing and maintaining a fleet of drones, as well as the specialized software and personnel required, can add up quickly.
A smaller drone light show from companies such as Sky Elements starts at $15,000, while larger shows with more drones and longer performances can range from $100,000 to $500,000 or higher. They are also susceptible to cancellation if weather conditions, such as high winds or poor visibility, turn bad.
In addition, coordinating hundreds or thousands of drones in a synchronized display is no small feat. It requires meticulous planning, airspace clearance and skilled operators to ensure a seamless performance without any midair collisions or technical glitches.
Drones lined up for light show (Sky Elements)
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Ensuring safe and compliant drone light shows
While drone light shows offer a captivating and innovative form of entertainment, their execution is subject to a complex web of regulations and guidelines designed to ensure public safety and airspace integrity. From federal aviation rules to local ordinances, event organizers and drone operators must navigate an intricate regulatory landscape to bring these aerial spectacles to life.
At the forefront of these regulations are the guidelines set forth by the Federal Aviation Administration, which govern nighttime drone operations, anti-collision lighting requirements and airspace restrictions. Obtaining the necessary permits and clearances for large-scale drone light shows often involves meticulous planning and coordination with aviation authorities, particularly in densely populated areas or near airports.
Beyond federal regulations, event organizers must also comply with local laws and ordinances that may impose additional restrictions or requirements for drone operations within specific jurisdictions. This can include noise ordinances, crowd control measures and environmental impact assessments, among other considerations.
Drone light show (Sky Elements)
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Kurt’s key takeaways
As you celebrate this Fourth of July, take a moment to look up at the night sky. You might just witness the birth of a new tradition, one that combines cutting-edge technology with good old-fashioned American ingenuity. Drone light shows are quickly becoming a captivating alternative to traditional fireworks, offering a mesmerizing spectacle that’s not only eco-friendly but also more inclusive for those with sensory sensitivities. While these high-tech displays may face challenges, their potential to dazzle and inspire is undeniable. So, keep an eye out for those nimble little robots painting the heavens with vibrant colors and intricate patterns. It’s a sight you won’t want to miss.
Have you seen a drone light show? Do you think they are the best of both worlds or do you prefer the traditional Fourth of July fireworks celebration? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact.
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The Republican-backed legislation is best known for its tax cuts on tips, deduction caps that could primarily benefit wealthy taxpayers, restriction on healthcare coverage for low-income and disabled Americans, cuts to renewable energy incentives, and tens of billions of dollars in funding to immigration enforcement. But it also includes restored tax deductions for research and development and other items that could benefit the tech industry, among other businesses.
In one high-profile fight, the tech industry failed to secure a moratorium on state AI laws, a proposal which had been supported by several trade groups and might have also affected a host of other state tech protections. But after months of lobbying from Congress to Mar-a-Lago, the industry will see slashed taxes and may receive new contracts from border enforcement funding, the Tech Oversight Project finds in a new report shared exclusively with The Verge. Some changes will likely benefit businesses of all sizes and sectors — while others may offer large companies in the tech industry the biggest benefits.
The budget bill essentially reverses a policy from Trump’s first term that limited how companies could write off research and development on their taxes. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) forced companies to spread write-offs for domestic R&D costs across five years, rather than deducting them fully in the year they were incurred. Now, Congress is restoring the previous, more generous deduction setup, and small businesses can get retroactive tax write-offs for the last couple years when the changes — which took effect in 2022 — were in place.
In a recent report, Quartz linked the R&D deduction changes to the wave of layoffs across the industry, describing how it made it so companies could effectively only write off one-fifth of their R&D costs in the year they were incurred, rather than the full sum, making salaries for engineers and other high-skilled roles much more costly. The nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) found that in the three years in which the TCJA changes took effect, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Tesla saw their tax bills rise a collective $75 billion as a result.
“The loss of full R&D expensing disincentivizes firms from significantly increasing their R&D investments”
So unsurprisingly, tech-backed groups like the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and the Business Software Alliance (BSA) pushed to revert the rule. “The loss of full R&D expensing disincentivizes firms from significantly increasing their R&D investments because the cost of those investments has risen,” ITIF wrote in a blog post earlier this year.
Maintaining a lower corporate tax rate
Conversely, business groups successfully pleaded with lawmakers to keep a different change from the TCJA: a massive reduction in the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. In a letter to lawmakers last year, tech-backed Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) told lawmakers that the reduction had brought the US in line with peer countries, and provided US companies “a more level playing field against their international competitors,” which the nonprofit Tax Foundation found helped boost US investment. Democrats who have opposed the lower tax rates have framed it as a handout to corporate America.
Extending lower international tax rates
The new budget law also blocks a scheduled increase in the effective tax rates on things like the money companies make abroad based on US-based patents or other intangible assets.
These kinds of taxes — the base erosion and anti-abuse tax (BEAT), global intangible low-taxed income tax (GILTI), and the foreign-derived intangible income tax (FDII) — are generally meant to prevent shifty accounting practices like moving assets to a foreign subsidiary. Before the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed, the effectively lowered rates through these three policies were set to expire at the end of 2025.
The tech industry argued protecting those low rates would keep US companies competitive with other countries, like France and the UK. “Several other nations already offer IP incentives,” ITI told lawmakers in an October letter. “It is essential that the FDII rate remains as low as possible.”
“The tax break disproportionately benefits large corporations with significant intellectual property portfolios”
But groups like the nonpartisan Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition and ITEP see lower rates for taxes like the FDII as a giveaway to the biggest players in the tech industry, which deal heavily in intangible assets like patents and trademarks.
“The tax break disproportionately benefits large corporations with significant intellectual property portfolios while doing little for smaller firms that lack similar assets,” ITEP wrote in a blog post last year, where it found that Google parent Alphabet reported over $11 billion in tax benefits from 2018 to 2023 as a result of the FDII.
Border protection funding could flow to tech
Alongside a significant budget increase for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other immigration-related funding, the law includes about $6 billion for border technologies, including surveillance systems. That money could flow to several large tech firms already engaged in the space.
Those include Peter Thiel-founded data company Palantir, which currently has a $30 million contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to build “ImmigrationOS” to create “near real-time visibility into instances of self-deportation.” Thiel-backed Anduril also stands to gain if the agency expands infrastructure like the surveillance towers it already supplies to the government. MIT Technology Review reported in 2018 that Amazon Web Services hosted Department of Homeland Security (DHS) databases related to immigration, including a deep pool of biometric data.
Other tax-saving adjustments
Tech companies and other businesses will also benefit from changes in how business interest deductions are calculated, and a permanent extension of rules allowing companies to take a full deduction of certain equipment expenses. House Democrats have previously called this kind of tactic a “Tax Scam,” writing, “Two-thirds of the benefits go to corporations making over $250 million in revenue, and from 2018 through 2021, about two dozen of the largest corporations received roughly $50 billion in tax breaks through this provision.”
Some of the tax changes in the bill will benefit smaller firms and businesses across many different industries. But large tech companies are particularly well positioned to benefit from changes in how foreign profits on intellectual property are taxed and fuller R&D write-offs. After months of cozying up to the Trump administration with little to show for it, it looks like the largest players in the industry have finally notched some wins.
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When you’re out walking, jogging or running, you should feel empowered, not unsafe. Yet a recent survey found that 92% of women in the U.S. reported feeling concerned for their safety while running, with half of those women fearing physical attack.
Additionally, over one-third experienced physical or verbal harassment, including sexist comments, honking, or being followed. To help address this alarming trend, Urban Eyes introduces a high-visibility safety vest with cameras built in. By capturing real-time footage of your surroundings, this clever wearable tech empowers you to stay focused, feel protected, and reclaim control of your outdoor workouts.
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A man running while wearing a safety vest with cameras (Urban Eyes)
How a safety vest with cameras helps deter attackers
Attackers don’t want to be caught on camera. When you wear a vest with front and rear cameras, you send a clear message: you’re being recorded. This visible deterrent makes would-be harassers think twice before approaching. With bright white, eye-shaped cameras and flashing blue LEDs, Urban Eyes makes sure everyone knows you’re protected.
A woman wearing a safety vest with cameras (Urban Eyes)
How this safety vest with cameras works in action
Slip on the vest, power up the cameras, and hit the ground walking, jogging or running. The wireless remote lets you control both cameras with one button. Want to snap a photo? Just press the remote. All footage is stored locally, so you’re always in control, no cloud connection required.
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Top features of this safety vest with cameras
- Dual 2.5K cameras: Capture every stride, front and back, day or night.
- Ultra-lightweight design: Weighs just 0.9 lb, moves freely without feeling weighed down.
- High-visibility panels: Reflective piping and bold colors keep you seen in low light.
- Long battery life: Record up to 90 minutes on a single charge.
- Secure storage: Footage saves directly to SD cards in each camera.
- Easy Plug & play: No app headaches. Use the wireless remote to start, stop, or pause recording instantly.
Pocket-sized remote for the safety vest with cameras (Urban Eyes)
A safety vest designed for comfort and everyday use
Urban Eyes fits most chest sizes (28″-52″) and comes in five color combos. The adjustable waistband and breathable fabric mean you can sprint, jog, or walk comfortably. There’s a large zippered pocket for your phone and smaller pockets for keys or cards, no more juggling essentials.
The benefits of this safety vest with cameras
The Urban Eyes safety vest with cameras gives walkers, runners or joggers, a sense of control and confidence. Knowing the cameras are recording adds an extra layer of protection, making it easier to stay focused instead of feeling vulnerable. The vest’s bright colors and reflective details make sure you’re seen by drivers and cyclists, even in dim conditions. It also keeps things simple. There’s no need to download an app or connect to Wi-Fi. You just press the remote and start recording. Most importantly, it gives you peace of mind. Instead of worrying about who might be behind you, you can concentrate on your pace and your path, knowing that your vest is capturing everything along the way.
A woman holding the pocket-sized remote while wearing a safety vest with cameras (Urban Eyes)
Urban Eyes safety vest: Price and preorder info
Urban Eyes is available for preorder at about $204. Choose your color, order online, and expect delivery in about 35 days.
Kurt’s key takeaways
Personal safety tech has come a long way.
With Urban Eyes, you get more than a vest; you get a visible deterrent and a personal eyewitness. You protect your home, car, and personal data; why not protect yourself when you’re out and about?
Would you feel safer running, walking, or jogging with a camera vest, or do you prefer other safety gadgets? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact.
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Copyright 2025 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.
It’s been a long time coming, but we finally have a real look at the end of Stranger Things. Netflix just released the first teaser trailer for the show’s fifth season, which will also be its last when it starts streaming later this year. As was alluded to in the finale of season 4, the new trailer — which, despite being called a teaser, clocks in at nearly three minutes long — is focused on the major showdown with Vecna that will presumably end the string of supernatural bad luck in Hawkins, Indiana for good.
Here’s the official setup for the finale, according to Netflix:
The fall of 1987. Hawkins is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and our heroes are united by a single goal: find and kill Vecna. But he has vanished — his whereabouts and plans unknown. Complicating their mission, the government has placed the town under military quarantine and intensified its hunt for Eleven, forcing her back into hiding. As the anniversary of Will’s disappearance approaches, so does a heavy, familiar dread. The final battle is looming — and with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they’ve faced before. To end this nightmare, they’ll need everyone — the full party — standing together, one last time.
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