Drone Industry Trends
Film or Farm: Which is the Bigger Drone Market? – Part 1
This is Part 1 in a two-part series that summarizes my views on why video/film/cinema – not agriculture and farming — will be the largest driver of sUAS commercial businesses. In this part I explore thoughts on the market for video/film/cinema, and below I outline why I believe film and video will lead in market … Read more
Which is Better: Open Source or Proprietary Drone Software?
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?
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
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?
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
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
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
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