Bottom line: Nvidia’s latest SEC filing describes a growing investment portfolio spanning chips, optical networking, telecom equipment, design software, and cloud infrastructure. Several of those bets have also produced substantial gains, including its Intel stake, which is now worth nearly $25 billion.

Nvidia bought $5 billion in Intel stock last year as part of the companies’ AI infrastructure partnership, creating one of the company’s most valuable equity positions. The stake was valued at $24.9 billion in the latest filing.

The Intel deal was both a financial investment and a strategic move. The companies said they would work on Intel x86 RTX system-on-chip for PCs that pair Intel processors with Nvidia graphics. They also announced plans for custom Nvidia data-center x86 processors. The investment gave Intel added support during a difficult period and created a closer relationship between the two chip giants.

The filing shows a change in Nvidia’s Arm holdings, too. Nvidia has sold its 1.1 million shares in the company, which were worth $178 million last August. The company is still expected to pursue Arm-based CPU development, even though it no longer holds Arm stock.

A blast from the not-so-distant past (July 2020):
Nvidia is now worth more than Intel

Nvidia also reported a $20.9 billion stake in SpaceX. That investment is tied to SpaceX’s growing AI ambitions. SpaceX’s xAI has committed to using Nvidia hardware exclusively in its AI data centers on Earth and in orbit. The stake could become more valuable if SpaceX’s stock recovers, but its current importance appears to be strategic.

Credit: App Economy Insights

The company is also investing in technology that supports larger AI systems. Nvidia put $2 billion into Coherent earlier this year. Coherent makes lasers, optical materials, and semiconductors, and it is expected to supply Ultra-High-Power Continuous-Wave lasers for Nvidia data-center platforms using co-packaged optics.

Co-packaged optics is becoming more important in large AI data centers because it can help move data between processors at higher speeds while reducing some of the limits of traditional electrical connections. Coherent’s shares have risen sharply since Nvidia announced the investment.

Nvidia has made a similar bet on telecom infrastructure. In October, it announced plans to invest $1 billion in Nokia to support AI-RAN development and the shift from 5G to 6G. Nvidia’s Nokia holdings are now worth $2.2 billion.

The company’s investment in Synopsys fits into its broader AI strategy. Synopsys has been adding AI features to its electronic design automation software, which is used to design chips and other advanced systems. Nvidia bought $2 billion worth of Synopsys stock last December. The stake is now valued at $2.15 billion.

Nvidia continues to hold stock in some of its customers. Its CoreWeave position grew from 24.2 million shares valued at $3.9 billion last year to 47.2 million shares worth $4.6 billion. The increase in shares suggests Nvidia added to its position as CoreWeave’s stock price fell.

Its position in Nebius stayed at 1.19 million shares. However, the value of that stake rose from $65.8 million in 2025 to $328.7 million.

This is what the big tech landscape looks like as of August 16, 2026. Apple’s position overtaking Nvidia didn’t last long this time.

With quarterly revenue above $80 billion and net income nearing $60 billion, Nvidia has the cash to make large investments. Its holdings suggest it is betting on the companies and technologies that will help shape the next phase of AI infrastructure.

British loudspeaker manufacturer Monitor Audio has introduced the eighth generation of its popular Silver Series, expanding the lineup with seven new models designed for both two-channel music systems and home theater applications.

The new Silver Series 8G is built around Monitor Audio’s Transparent Design Philosophy and represents the company’s most extensively refined Silver platform to date. With updated driver technology, cabinet engineering, and acoustic optimization carried across the range, Monitor Audio is positioning the 8G lineup as a meaningful step forward in performance while keeping the Silver Series firmly aimed at the highly competitive midrange loudspeaker market.

The series also includes a dedicated On-Wall model designed for more discreet stereo, surround, and home theater installations where floor space or visual impact may be a concern.

What’s New in the Monitor Audio Silver Series 8G

The Silver Series 8G introduces a number of technological upgrades over the previous Silver Series 7G, with refinements to the driver technology, crossover design, and cabinet construction intended to deliver improved clarity, control, and overall acoustic performance.

C-CAM With RST III

Over its 40-year history, Monitor Audio has been at the forefront of metal-cone driver technology. The Silver Series 8G incorporates Monitor Audio’s proprietary C-CAM (Ceramic-Coated Aluminium/Magnesium) driver technology, along with the latest generation of RST III (Rigid Surface Technology) improvements.

The latest cone geometry is designed to increase structural rigidity while minimizing unwanted resonances, supporting greater accuracy, control, and transparency across the frequency range.

C-CAM Gold Dome Tweeter

For improved high-frequency performance, Monitor Audio has refined the latest generation of its C-CAM Gold Dome tweeter, a technology the company first introduced in the 1980s. The redesigned tweeter incorporates an optimized vented rear chamber, a newly engineered shorting ring, and the latest UD Waveguide II. Together, these refinements are designed to deliver smoother, more natural treble reproduction with improved clarity, consistency, and dispersion.

‘Silent Flow’ Port Technology

The Silver Series 8G also introduces a new port technology designed to significantly improve bass performance over the outgoing range. Inspired by the interlocking wing feathers of an owl, the new “Silent Flow” port combines an enlarged diameter with an innovative flare geometry that guides airflow more smoothly and quietly, reducing turbulence while supporting cleaner, deeper, and more controlled bass response.

New Crossover Design

Monitor Audio has also redesigned the crossover network for the Silver Series 8G, with the goal of providing more precise signal division, lower coloration, and a cleaner, more transparent signal path. The updated crossover is designed to improve integration between the drivers while contributing to a tighter, more coherent soundstage.

Engineered Wood

The Silver Series 8G is available in a European Walnut veneer crafted from real, engineered wood layered from sustainably sourced timber to replicate the rich grain and color associated with more exotic species. The result is a consistent, premium finish without relying on rare or endangered woods.

Through-Bolt Driver Bracing

Utilizing through-Bolt Driver Bracing, the Silver 8G’s speaker drivers are securely braced to the rear of the cabinet and tightened to a specific torque, ensuring structural rigidity between driver and cabinet while eliminating unwanted chassis resonances.

New Outrigger Feet

Taking a cue from the flagship Platinum Series 3G, the Silver Series 8G includes new outrigger feet designed to deliver a wider, more stable foundation. A discreet top-adjust mechanism allows precise levelling, and spikes can be switched out for integrated rubber feet to protect hard floors.

Comparison (Floorstanding & Bookshelf Models)

Comparison (On-Wall, Center, and Upfiring Models)

The Bottom Line 

The Monitor Audio Silver Series 8G is more than a cosmetic update, with revised C-CAM drivers, an improved Gold Dome tweeter, new crossover networks, cabinet refinements, and the Silent Flow port all aimed at delivering better performance than the outgoing 7G range. Its biggest advantage is flexibility, with models suited to traditional stereo systems, compact surround setups, and larger Dolby Atmos installations.

The Silver Series 8G is aimed at buyers who want a higher-performance loudspeaker system without moving into true high-end pricing, and it competes directly with offerings from KEF, Bowers & Wilkins, DALI, Focal, Q Acoustics, and Klipsch. There is no matching Silver Series subwoofer, but Monitor Audio’s Vestra models provide an obvious option, and buyers are free to use a subwoofer from another brand.

Price & Availability

The  Monitor Audio Silver 9G Series will be available beginning sometime in August 2026 from authorized dealers and installers at the following MSRP guidelines: 

• Silver 500 8G (floorstanding)  – £2650.00 / €3100.00 / $3300.00 (Pair)
• Silver 300 8G (floorstanding) – £2000.00 / €2400.00 / $2600.00 (Pair)
• Silver 100 8G (bookshelf) – £1500.00 / €1800.00 / $2000.00 (Pair)
• Silver 50 8G (bookshelf) – £800.00 / €1000.00 / $1050.00 (Pair)
• Silver On-Wall 8G – £450.00 / €550.00 / $575.00 (Each)
• Silver Centre 8G – £800.00 / €1000.00 / $1050.00 (Each)
• Silver AMS 8G – £900.00 / €1100.00 / $1200.00 (Pair)

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WTF?! Have you ever marveled at the lightning speeds of modern communications and thought, “I wish this wasn’t so fast”? Probably not, but for anyone who doesn’t want to resort to posting letters, there’s a new app that replicates the message-carrying speed of a carrier pigeon. Adding further realism to the whole thing, there’s a small chance that your virtual bird will get lost or die while traveling to its destination, so don’t send anything too important.

The iOS app Carrier Pidge is the work of Noah Iarrobino, who vibe coded it in about three weeks. Refreshingly, he admits that it’s both “pointless” with “genuinely no practical use,” but it’s still interesting to discover how long it would take to deliver a message by pigeon power.

The app works by using GPS to measure the distance between a user’s current location and where the receiving Carrier Pidge user is located.

The delivery time is based on how long it would take a pigeon flying at 110 mph to cover the distance. If the person happens to be very close, it’ll get there in no time at all, but if both people live on opposite sides of the country, expect it to take almost a day to be delivered. Anything going overseas from the US is going to take even longer.

– Noah (@noah_bino) August 12, 2026

The speed of the pigeon does vary by around 25%, so your message could arrive quicker or slower than expected. Thankfully, there’s a real-time flight tracker with a map that’s shown within the app, so you can see where your feathered messenger is currently at and how long it will take before it reaches the destination.

Adding to the incredible excitement of watching a pigeon move across a map in real-time is the possibility of it never completing its journey. Pigeons, even the virtual kind, are still animals, so there’s a 0.2% chance that yours will die en route, perhaps from virtual predators or hunters, or it could just get distracted and lost on the way.

Carrier Pidge is monetized by allowing users to expand their aviaries, adding up to 10 extra pigeons so they can send more than one bird simultaneously. It’ll also come to Android, eventually.

If this all sounds familiar, a very similar app called Roost also launched around April. Iarrobino said he spoke with the creator and believes they both had similar ideas about the demand for a pigeon-based messaging service.

The iPhone 18 Pro will be a powerhouse for photography while the iPhone Ultra will focus on the novelty of folding, your hosts discuss this and the AI competition in the latest AppleInsider Podcast.

Apple’s September event will focus on premium iPhone models, but not everything is known about these products just yet. Apple’s pitch for iPhone 18 Pro will likely be around its advanced camera system while the foldable will have the obvious going for it.

What is still up for debate, however, is the naming scheme for the foldable iPhone. AppleInsider took to calling it iPhone Fold as a placeholder that mimics Samsung’s naming, but others chose “iPhone Ultra.”

Reports suggest that staff within Apple have started calling the foldable “iPhone Ultra” as well, though this isn’t indicative of it being the actual name. Your hosts discuss the rumor, what’s coming at the event, and what’s next.

Apple’s competition in the AI space is heating up too, as OpenAI’s mysterious product was detailed in a report. It’s going to be an odd fall for Apple as it deals with a new product line, limited supply, and a wider AI launch.

BONUS: Subscribe via Patreon or Apple Podcasts to hear AppleInsider+, the extended edition. This time, your hosts discuss what it means to be an “Ultra” product and if Apple’s foldable can earn that moniker.

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Samsung owns enough audio brands to fill a respectable section of an audio show, yet Galaxy smartphone owners looking for a premium pair of Samsung-branded over-ear headphones have been staring at an empty shelf for years.

That might finally be changing.

Code discovered by SamMobile inside Samsung’s Galaxy Wearable app points to a new pair of full-size wireless headphones being developed under the internal name “Galaxy H1.” The code confirms Bluetooth connectivity, while accompanying graphics depict an over-ear headphone design. Samsung has not announced the product, Galaxy H1 may not be the final name, and there are currently no confirmed specifications, price, or release date. SamMobile believes the project is still relatively early and could surface sometime in early 2027.

That last paragraph matters because some reports have already started filling in the blanks with ANC, Bluetooth 6.0, Samsung Seamless Codec UHQ, AI integration, battery-life estimates and other features that would certainly make sense — but none of them have been confirmed for Galaxy H1. At this point, Bluetooth and the existence of the project are the solid parts. Everything else remains educated speculation.

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Samsung Has Been Here Before

Galaxy H1 would not be Samsung’s first over-ear headphone. Back in 2014, Samsung introduced the Level Over, a premium wireless over-ear model with a 50mm dynamic driver, Bluetooth, touch controls and hybrid active noise cancellation. That product predates Samsung’s 2017 acquisition of HARMAN and therefore belongs to an entirely different period in the company’s audio history.

And that is what makes Galaxy H1 potentially interesting.

Samsung now sits above an enormous audio portfolio through HARMAN, including JBL, AKG and Harman Kardon, while HARMAN’s 2025 acquisition of Sound United added brands including Bowers & Wilkins, Denon and Marantz. There is no evidence whatsoever that engineers from any of those companies are involved with Galaxy H1, and suggesting otherwise would be pure speculation. What is fair to say is that Samsung in 2026 has considerably more audio expertise within the broader organization than it did when the Level Over appeared 12 years ago.

The amusing part is that Samsung already owns a formidable competitor to whatever Galaxy H1 becomes. The JBL Tour One M3 offers adaptive ANC, Spatial 360 with head tracking, Hi-Res Audio, Auracast and up to 70 hours of playback. Samsung therefore does not need another over-ear headphone simply to prove that someone inside the building knows how to make one.

It needs a Galaxy headphone.

What Could Make Galaxy H1 Different?

The opportunity is ecosystem integration rather than some magical new driver technology we know nothing about.

Samsung’s current Galaxy Buds4 Pro already support Samsung Seamless Codec UHQ at up to 24-bit/96kHz with compatible Galaxy devices, Auto Switch, 360 Audio, adaptive ANC and hands-free access to Bixby, Gemini and Perplexity. None of those features are confirmed for Galaxy H1, but they demonstrate the ecosystem Samsung has already built and what a flagship over-ear model could potentially inherit.

Apple understands this game extremely well. AirPods Max are not successful merely because they reproduce music; they are designed to work as an extension of Apple’s hardware and software ecosystem. Samsung has Galaxy smartphones, tablets, televisions, watches and an increasingly sophisticated AI platform, but no premium over-ear headphone carrying the Galaxy name.

That is a rather obvious hole.

Who Would Galaxy H1 Be For?

Assuming Samsung positions these as a flagship model, Galaxy smartphone and tablet owners are the obvious audience, particularly those who want better isolation, longer battery life and the more substantial presentation of an over-ear design without surrendering the convenience they already get from Galaxy Buds.

They could also appeal to Android users who have been choosing Sony or Bose largely because Samsung has offered no equivalent product. The larger question will be how many of Galaxy H1’s eventual features work outside Samsung’s ecosystem. Samsung notes that some advanced Buds4 features require compatible Galaxy hardware, and pushing that strategy too far with an expensive headphone could narrow the audience considerably.

The Competition Will Not Be Amused

If Galaxy H1 lands in the $400 to $600 range, Samsung will be walking directly into one of the nastiest fights in personal audio.

The Apple AirPods Max 2 are $549 and now offer improved ANC, Adaptive Audio, Personalized Spatial Audio, Live Translation and lossless USB-C playback. The Sony WH-1000XM6 remain one of the obvious benchmarks for ANC, portability and everyday usability, while the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) sell for $449 and focus heavily on noise cancellation and comfort.

Listeners placing greater emphasis on sound quality also have the $799 Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2, Sennheiser’s headphones, and ironically Samsung-owned JBL’s Tour One M3 to consider. And that’s before the rumoured Sonos Ace Ultra appear in September according to recently filed FCC documentation..

Samsung therefore does not need to make another perfectly competent ANC headphone with some AI sprinkled over the top like parsley.

It needs to explain why someone carrying a Galaxy S26 should stop buying Sony, Bose or Bowers & Wilkins and buy this instead.

The Bottom Line

The most interesting thing about the rumored Galaxy H1 is not anything we currently know about its drivers, battery life or noise cancellation — because we know almost nothing about those things.

It is that Samsung finally appears ready to close one of the most conspicuous gaps in the Galaxy ecosystem.

A decade ago, Samsung’s Level Over was competing in a very different headphone market. Today, Samsung owns HARMAN, has a mature Galaxy audio ecosystem and would be entering a category dominated by Apple, Sony and Bose at a moment when premium wireless headphones have become increasingly sophisticated and expensive.

Galaxy H1 could be extremely interesting. It could also be $500 worth of Galaxy AI looking for a reason to exist. Until Samsung actually announces it, keep both possibilities on the table.

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Mozilla is rolling out an ad blocker built into Firefox for iOS. It’s a move that can help users protect their privacy more, except in some lucrative situations.

Online advertising can be burdensome for web users, and for many years, some elect to use plug-ins like Adblock to cut down on the ads they see. Now, Mozilla is giving users a way to do it on iOS.

Introduced on Saturday via a support page, Firefox for iOS now includes an optional ad blocker. As Mozilla describes, it is a tool to reduce the amount of advertising shown as you browse the Internet.

The feature is listed as “experimental” and is being rolled out gradually to all users.

Blocking is carried out at a network level, including affecting third-party advertising networks and exchanges, ad-related trackers, and many third-party ads served by websites. The blocking also impacts more intrusive formats, such as pop-ups and overlays.

Not all ads

While the system does use a filter list based on EasyList and blocks ads before loading, there are exceptions.

Mozilla explains that the ad blocker will not block ads shown on search engine results pages. That includes Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and other search companies.

It also won’t block sponsored content on the Firefox Home or New Tab page. This makes sense, as it’s a source of revenue for the organization.

While seemingly not as lucrative, the search deal adblock situation is also going to be down to revenue. Like Apple’s Safari, Mozilla also benefits from search deals with Google.

In 2025, the non-profit said that 90% of its revenue came from Firefox. Of that 90%, approximately 85% stemmed from a Google deal.

That certainly gives Firefox an incentive not to bite the hand that feeds it.

How to enable ad-blocking in Firefox for iOS

1. Open Firefox and open a webpage.
2. Tap the menu and bring up the Site menu.
3. Tap Ad Blocker. In the Settings menu that comes up, toggle Ad Blocker on.

When eCoustics walked into the Quantum Media Systems room at CEDIA Expo 2025, we were not expecting a 20-foot-wide video wall to become one of our favorite displays of the show. The company’s XDR4-8K delivered excellent color, deep black levels, enormous scale, and most importantly, none of the distracting seams that can undermine modular MicroLED displays. The approximately 20-foot-wide system started around $350,000 and ultimately earned our Best Ultra Large TV award for CEDIA Expo 2025.

Quantum Media Systems is returning to CEDIA Expo 2026 with the fifth-generation XDR5-8K, but the story this time is not simply another gigantic display with more pixels. The new processing platform can handle multiple simultaneous native 8K video streams without downscaling, while an integrated Visual Media Server allows different sources, graphics, widgets, control interfaces, security feeds, sporting events, games, and digital artwork to share the same massive canvas.

That makes the XDR5-8K more than another demonstration designed to make people stare at an enormous screen for five minutes before returning to something they can actually afford.

Quantum XDR5-8K: What’s New?

At the heart of the XDR5-8K is Quantum’s next-generation Visual Media Server, which is designed to process multiple native 8K streams simultaneously while retaining their resolution. Users can arrange those sources in customizable windows, including combinations of 8K and 4K content, without having the processor reduce an 8K source to a lower resolution simply because several images are being displayed at the same time.

For a conventional television, that might be overkill. On a video wall measuring 15, 18, or 20 feet across, it starts to make considerably more sense. A homeowner could watch several sporting events simultaneously, keep a security feed or statistics window open alongside them, display artwork when the system is not being used for movies, or create entirely different layouts depending on the application.

The XDR5-8K uses a 0.9mm pixel pitch and is designed to provide studio-reference color accuracy and Digital Cinema-compliant performance. One important clarification, however, is that the pixel pitch itself is not an improvement over the specific XDR4-8K demonstration eCoustics saw last year. Quantum described that 20-foot XDR4 system as using a finer 0.7mm pixel pitch, so the significant generational change with XDR5 appears to be centered more on processing, system flexibility, visualization, and installation support than simply shrinking the distance between pixels.

Native 8K Finally Has Something to Play

One of the longstanding problems with 8K displays has been painfully obvious: what are you supposed to watch on them?

That situation has started to change. Kaleidescape introduced its $4,995 Strato K in June 2026, giving its movie ecosystem native 8K playback for the first time while also introducing the higher-bitrate 4K Cinematic format with up to 4:4:4 chroma. The Strato K supports native 8K playback in SDR and HDR10 and is the first movie player certified under the 8K Association’s current performance and interoperability requirements.

When eCoustics covered the Strato K in June, we noted that the more interesting feature at launch might actually be 4K Cinematic, because native 8K movie availability remained extremely limited. The important difference at CEDIA 2026 is that Quantum can now demonstrate an 8K display using a consumer movie player capable of delivering actual native 8K content instead of relying exclusively on demonstration material, upscaling, or specialized professional playback equipment.

The XDR5-8K will be demonstrated in CEDIA Expo Room 201 with the Strato K supplying native 8K material. Quantum will also provide an 18-foot-wide LED wall at Kaleidescape’s Booth 3706.

Why Does This Matter?

For most consumers, an enormous custom video wall costing well into six figures remains about as relevant to the monthly household budget as yacht maintenance. But technologies demonstrated at this level have a habit of moving downstream, and direct-view LED systems are increasingly challenging the assumption that projection is the only practical route to truly enormous home theater images.

Projection remains capable of delivering spectacular results, particularly in properly designed dark rooms, but a direct-view LED wall does not require a projector hanging from the ceiling or a projection surface across the room. It can also serve as a large-format display for television, sports, gaming, artwork, and other content rather than functioning primarily as a cinema screen.

Our experience with Quantum at CEDIA 2025 demonstrated the potential. The biggest issue we have encountered with modular LED walls has been visible seams and differences in brightness or color between individual display modules. Quantum’s precision installation and extensive calibration made those module boundaries essentially disappear on the XDR4 system we saw, even from unusually close viewing distances.

The XDR5 expands on that concept by treating the wall as something closer to a giant programmable visual environment instead of merely an enormous television.

That is probably its most interesting feature.

More Than Hardware

Quantum is also addressing one of the less glamorous problems associated with a system of this complexity: getting the damn thing installed correctly.

The company is introducing an integrated visualization platform that allows custom integrators to create realistic renderings of a proposed room before construction begins, including the video wall, loudspeakers, seating, lighting, and furnishings. Quantum also offers engineering, system configuration, installation assistance, calibration and commissioning, remote diagnostics, ongoing support, and spare display modules stored on-site for servicing.

That turnkey approach matters when the display costs more than many houses. A modular LED wall is not something you want delivered on Tuesday afternoon with an Allen key and a QR code linking to a YouTube installation video.

Who Is the Quantum XDR5-8K For?

The obvious audience is the ultra-high-end custom-installation market: dedicated home theaters, luxury media rooms, sports-focused entertainment spaces, yachts, and residences where a conventional 100- or 115-inch television simply is not large enough.

It is also aimed at customers who want one giant display to perform several jobs. The ability to divide an enormous screen among multiple sporting events, games, security feeds, artwork, videoconferencing, and other sources makes more practical sense in a multipurpose entertainment space than buying an 8K wall solely to watch the still-small selection of native 8K movies.

Quantum has not announced pricing for the XDR5-8K in its current CEDIA 2026 announcement. For context, the 20-foot Quantum system eCoustics experienced at CEDIA 2025 started at approximately $350,000, with configurations capable of exceeding $550,000 depending on options.

Nobody should therefore expect this to appear beside the 98-inch TVs at Costco anytime soon.

The Bottom Line

We were already impressed with what Quantum Media Systems accomplished at CEDIA Expo 2025.

The XDR5-8K takes a different step forward. Native 8K support itself is no longer particularly shocking, but processing several native 8K sources simultaneously without downscaling them, integrating those sources into customizable layouts, and turning the wall into a broader entertainment and smart-home interface makes this considerably more interesting than another resolution upgrade.

Native 8K content still needs to catch up with the hardware, and nobody is going to confuse the XDR5 with a mainstream television. But pairing Quantum’s enormous direct-view display with Kaleidescape’s new Strato K means that, for perhaps the first time at CEDIA, we can evaluate a genuine consumer 8K source-to-display chain rather than watching another carefully selected 8K demo loop.

After what we saw from Quantum last year, this is one room we will be visiting again at CEDIA Expo 2026.

For more information: quantummediasystems.com

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Researchers at EPFL’s MicroBioRobotic Systems laboratory have built ultralight flying machines that carry no motors, batteries, or electronics. Hollow cavities printed into their structures turn ordinary sound waves into focused jets of air. Those jets provide the thrust that lifts the devices off a surface and keeps them aloft.

The idea begins with a classic physics demonstration: blow across the mouth of a bottle and watch the air trapped within begin to vibrate. When you strike the correct pitch, the vibration intensifies sufficiently to generate a distinct tone. The phenomenon is known as Helmholtz resonance. A team of EPFL researchers applied the same method to form small polymer cavities. When they did, they discovered that the resonance causes air to be forced out one end of the cavity far more powerfully than it is sucked back in the other, resulting in a continuous jet of air that gently but persistently nudges the entire construction in a specific direction.

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Everything, from the micro flying objects to the larger versions, is constructed using additive manufacturing, which is essentially a fancy word for 3D printing, and the tiny ones, like the larger counterparts, were created using two-photon polymerization. This is a highly high-resolution method that allows you to create structures that are only a few millimeters wide and weigh next to nothing, simply a few micrograms. As a result, the finished items have a lot of empty space and very little actual material.

Two different designs have already gone to the skies. The first one resembles a little rocket, with three chambers directed directly down toward the ground. When an ultrasonic field of 40 kilohertz is concentrated on the object, each cavity spits forth a jet of air, and presto!The entire contraption begins to ascend like a small rocket. The thing weighs 150 micrograms and has enough power to hover at nearly a five-to-one thrust-to-weight ratio. In certain lab testing, the device was able to climb a few millimeters into the air before settling into a steady hover with an upward force that properly matched its weight.

The second design adds a variation to the same basic concept. This one has thin blades linked to its chambers. Each resonator is positioned at the base of a curved blade and points rearward. When the matching ultrasonic frequency is detected, the jets begin spinning the entire assembly at a pace of more than 13,000 revolutions per minute. The rotating blades, like those on a helicopter rotor, provide aerodynamic lift, allowing it to stay afloat. In fact, this form of the gadget is slightly more reliable at remaining steady and level because the rotating mass itself is sufficient to prevent tilting.

The control system is also really neat. The concept is that separate cavities can be set to various frequencies. Changing the frequency of the sound input is sufficient to activate only the chosen set of resonators, allowing you to utilize the same external speaker or ultrasonic array to propel, turn, or even stop the item. When the crew tested several of their boats at centimeter scale, they used auditory tones. In one boat, a resonator was utilized to propel it forward and some side-mounted resonators to steer it. All the operator had to do to steer the boat was switch the frequencies, and it would turn around in response. In some later tests, the boats even carried their own little transducers and batteries along for the ride, allowing them to follow programd paths without any external assistance.

One of the most brilliant aspects of this technology is that it operates almost completely silently. Because the only moving parts are the air molecules themselves, the machines make barely a sound when powered by ultrasound, and even when they don’t, the jets themselves make almost no noise at all, at least not enough for human ears to detect.
[Source]