How does the Ford Model T predict the future of drones?

Industries have very predictable life cycles.  It starts with the “Pioneer Stage”: Dozens (if not hundreds) of manufacturers all try and promote different designs of a new product category.   Then the “Adoption Stage”: The market starts selecting the dominant designs and features and there is a refinement of those designs and features.  Next, the “Consolidation…

Why the ancient Romans had better drones than we do

The Ancient Romans. Over several centuries they went from a small collection of villages along the banks of the River Tiber to conquering all of the Mediterranean basin.  For sure many a doctoral dissertation has been written on how and why that happened. But I think all of those well-heeled scholarly types have all missed…

The Future of Data and Drones: How do you avoid vendor lock-in and move your data between vendors?

Article Series: The Future of Data and Drones: Lessons from the worlds of big data, enterprise software, and private equity. What will the world of drones and data look like in the next 10 years? This is a series of articles featured in UAV Commercial News exploring that question. We’ll look at how other industries…

The Future of Data and Drones: Do you own your own data about your drones and program? You’ll be surprised that you often don’t.

Article Series: The Future of Data and Drones: Lessons from the worlds of big data, enterprise software, and private equity. What will the world of drones and data look like in the next 10 years? This is a series of articles featured in UAV Commercial News exploring that question. We’ll look at how other industries…

The Future of Data and Drones: How do you get the data you need to support the key metric, Cost-Per-(Flight)-Minute?

Article Series: The Future of Data and Drones: Lessons from the worlds of big data, enterprise software, and private equity. What will the world of drones and data look like in the next 10 years? This is a series of articles featured in UAV Commercial News exploring that question. We’ll look at how other industries…

Should you buy a new iPhone each time you buy an app? DJI thinks you should.

Let’s go back to the dark ages of the computer. 1970s. This is when companies like Data General, Wang, and others ruled the world with “microcomputers” (which were anything but micro). Funny thing about computers back then was that if you wanted a new application you more likely than not needed to buy another computer.…

Toilets and Drones: Why toilet design and your current drone’s design are the same

Toilets are in many ways unsung heroes of the modern world. Yes, it’s true that antibiotics, vaccines, and other medical technology have saved millions of lives but, by separating sewage from your drinking water, the humble toilet has arguably saved many more – and even launched modern statistics and data visualization.  Quick history geek out.…

How did the Modovolo Lift come to be? A discussion with Erik, CTO of Modovolo, and another shameless pitch for the Modovolo Lift.

“I’m a commercial drone pilot myself and it was frustrating to me that flight time was so low for all the drones I was using. I wanted something that would give me at least an hour of flight with any payload. But your options are limited. If you want that kind of flight time performance,…