Category: Technology

Are drones really useful?

Drones attracted a lot of attention when one of them almost hit a plane at Heathrow airport in December last year. Individuals from all age groups wish to try their hands-on drone, and this is the reason that everyone was praying Santa to bless them with drone as Christmas gift last year.

Drone is considered creepy, evil, militaristic, cool, and is also considered spy stuff. These devices are also popularly used by photographers and videographers from around the world.

They can be used for almost everything

Drones came under the limelight for the first time when the US Military used them for them for the first time during operation “War on Terror” in the Middle East. Drones were used to capture images of terrorists and to kill them.

Google wants to use drones to transmit internet signals in certain developing countries where there are no telecom networks in small villages. The search giant made it in headlines when it approached the Federal Communications Commission for permission to allow it to test-drive its drones in Albuquerque.

Google is developing its drones with the company called Titan Aerospace. The company also plans to use these drones in assessing environmental damage caused due to deforestation, oil spills, and volcanic eruptions.

Everyone is aware of Amazon’s efforts towards developing the drone that can deliver goods directly at customer’s doorstep.

Companies that wish to fly the unmanned drone, need permission from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States. This is where Amazon’s drone is waiting for permission. FAA’s current rules suggest that drone cannot fly outside its pilot’s sight. According to reports, currently, Amazon is conducting indoor trials for its drone, and is getting the device ready for tests.

Aerial photography has changed a lot due to drone

Aerial photography has witnessed a lot of change since the introduction of drone. Until the beginning of last decade, aerial photography was only affordable for millionaires, aerial photography meant photographers flying high in the helicopter. But that is history! These days, almost everyone is willing to hire the drone to take wedding photographs.

Drones are also being tested to work with lighting solutions

MIT researchers joined hands with Cornell University in September last year. Their engineers are developing the new drone that can prove to be photographer’s best friend. The concerned device uses advanced lighting solutions that are popularly used in photography.

MIT also made it in headlines during July last year when reports about MIT’s drones for flying photography lights emerged on tech sites around the world.

Whenever photographer changes his position, technicians need to change the position of various lights as well. This consumes a lot of time. But thanks to Cornell University and MIT’s lighting solutions mounted on drones, changing the position of lights will just take a few minutes.

These camera-mounted drones are powered to change their positions automatically.

Drone to study wildlife

This may sound weird, but researchers believe that drones can prove to be the best tool that can help ornithologists to study birds in their natural habitat. The specially designed drone also helps researchers to monitor birds that live on cliffs or any other places that are beyond human’s reach.

French National Center for Scientific Research recently conducted their research to study the impact of drones on birds and wild animals. The study’s co-author David Grémillet suggests that birds can easily get scared, and they are shy. But still, they were not disturbed when drones came near them during the organization’s research.

Drone to track illegal fishing

In June last year, Belize’s fisheries department along with American non-profit-Conservation Drones, and the Wildlife Conservation Society launched drones over Glover Reef, on Belize coast and in certain parts of California. These drones monitor the coast to track illegal fishing that is thriving in the concerned area.

Test your hands-on one

There are several types of drones available in the United Kingdom these days. These devices are available for as low as £30. If no one gifted you that little evil drone during Christmas, you can easily afford to buy one on your own.

Innovation Platforms- Advantages for Small Business Owners

Open innovation is fundamentally changing the way small businesses overcome the obstacles they face in carrying out their activities in the marketplace. In fact, the entrepreneurs of such organizations are in now in a better position to come up with groundbreaking products that exceed the expectations of their customers at reasonable prices. For those who are unaware of this new business concept, it refers to a process where proprietors of such businesses encourage their target audience to offer ideas on how they improve their production lines. You just need to look at the rapid growth of companies like Apple, Facebook and Google in the corporate world within a few decades to understand its importance.

Open Innovation platforms– 3 key benefits small companies can enjoy by implementing them

Experts specializing in this field point out the following 3 key benefits of entrepreneurs of small business can enjoy when they use effective open innovation platforms to gain the competitive in the market:

  1. Leads to the development of cutting-edge products or services

Like most entrepreneurs establishing their own startup businesses, you cannot express in words your feelings on being successful in introducing an innovative product in the marketplace. The positive feedback you receive from your target audience usually makes you extremely happy. However, after the initial euphoria, it is natural for you to become complacent. You tend to focus all your attention on marketing this one product to the public than investing some of your time and resources on developing something new. However, taking this course of action helps you expand your customer base and boost your bottom-line revenues in the long-run.

Crowdsourcing Platform

  1. Building a viable community among the members of your target audience

You know how important it is to interact with members of your target audience and provide them with what they want. Making use of effective open innovation platforms according to your business needs helps you to achieve this vital objective . You will find many of these people are willing take time out to their busy schedule to offer you their ideas on how to improve the quality of the products you are offering to sell them. You just need to look at how companies like toymaker ‘Lego’ engage their customers with this business concept to get the inspiration you need.

  1. Enable you to engage with your employees effectively

You cannot deny the contribution of the people you employ to growth and development of your business in the marketplace. This is reason why you go to great lengths to make them happy and ensure they retain their jobs. Even they can have groundbreaking ideas on how you can improve your organization’s production lines and way it markets its products to the public in the marketplace. However, they may not always feel confident to come forward with their ideas as they feel they may fall on deaf ears. Taking the initiative to introduce open innovation within their organization can help them to become a part and parcel of the planning process.

Small businesses are always in a better position to come up with innovative products or services for the public at competitive prices. Your organization is not an exception to this rule. Making effective use of open innovation platforms can help you achieve this objective and take on the might of large companies. The above 3 key advantages prove this point without any reasonable doubt.