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Which is Better: Open Source or Proprietary Drone Software?

By Colin Snow | May 23, 2014

Just like Google vs. Apple When the Apple iPad first appeared on the market in 2010, I didn’t jump in to buy one. I didn’t own an iPhone, I had a company-issued Blackberry, so I wasn’t motivated. Besides, I figured there would be a better model a year or so later. So I waited. By … Read more

Will Future FAA Rules Kill The Small Drones Market?

By Colin Snow | May 3, 2014

I just released the findings of my two-month survey studying the impact of FAA rules on small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) in the U.S. You can read the press release here. Among the many insights I got from the research, these two are the most significant: Unfavorable rules will disintegrate an already fragile market for … Read more

Drone Businesses: Three Social Media Platforms You Can’t Afford To Ignore

By Colin Snow | April 18, 2014

For some the thought of using Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn for their small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) business seems, well, just wrong. What good are they? Aren’t they just platforms for people who want to share what they had for breakfast? It’s not my audience. These social networks seem like a lot work for … Read more

Do FAA Rules Hurt Your Small Drone Business?

By Colin Snow | March 26, 2014

Confused by the FAA’s small drone regulations? Feeling choked as a business? As you know, the FAA declares they govern *all* airspace, even the 400 feet above ground in which you fly everything from a paper airplane to a kite to a remote-controlled kit-built airplane and, yes, your multirotor drone. But FAA regulations are being … Read more

The Business of Drones: A Tale of Two Cities

By Colin Snow | March 7, 2014

The year was 1775. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the … Read more

The Democratization of Aerial Photography

By Colin Snow | February 21, 2014

From earliest times, humans have held a fascination with the “bird’s eye” view from above. Therefore it’s not surprising that, not long after the invention of photography, pioneers began to turn their attention to the aerial view. The first to successfully accomplish this feat was Gaspar Felix Tournachon or “Nadar” in 1858 when he photographed … Read more

Drones Revolution Means Big Data Cloud Services

By Colin Snow | February 14, 2014

I love drones. No, not the big high-altitude ones like the Predator Drone, I mean the smaller low-altitude ones like Aeryon, Flexrotor, Phantom, and PrecisionHawk, that do everything from 3D mapping, to cinematography, to forensic inspections, to precision agriculture. I love making, programming, and piloting small unmanned aerial vehicles (sUAVs), and over the past several years I have … Read more

The Yellow Brick Road of FAA Drone Regulations

By Colin Snow | February 6, 2014

This post provides a few helpful links to get you started on the journey of understanding Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations for UAS. Come back later and look for updates. There are three basic categories of UAS operations as defined by the FAA – LINK Public. This includes public entities such as federal and local governments, … Read more

Making Sense of Drones

By Colin Snow | February 6, 2014

What do you think when you hear the word drone or unmanned aerial system (UAS) or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)? Drones come in all sizes now. Most of you know about the big high altitude Defense related ones like the Predator Drone, but you may not know about the many smaller low altitude ones for Civil and … Read more

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