Business Forum Dialna: December 2017

Saturday, December 23, 2017

Parrot Minidrone Airborne

The Airborne Night ($129) and Airborne Cargo ($99) drones from Parrot are the latest in the company's Minidrone line, which includes drones that travel through the air, on the ground and in water. They are simple but well constructed drones that kids will love and can be flown indoors or outdoors (with no wind). And, with included bumpers that protect the rotors, they won't trash the house when they crash into things.

Design

There are several varieties of each drone available. We reviewed the Travis variant of the Cargo (yellow, with a miniature figure that clips onto the top via a Lego-compatible brick) and Blaze version of the Night (red with yellow rotors). The Cargo version includes a spot on the top where you can clip on Lego bricks, and the Night version includes some rather bright LED lights on the front for night flying.

Although both drones are made of plastic, they feel robust, and we found that they were strong enough to withstand most crashes. Both also come with plastic bumpers installed that protect the rotors (and the things they crash into), but those bumpers can be removed for outdoor flying. Both are small, measuring about 7.5 x 7 inches with the bumpers installed and about 1.5 inches high. Without the bumpers, they measure about 6 x 6 inches.
How They Compare

The main difference between the two models we looked at is what they are designed to do: The Night features LED lights (as AUKEY MINI DRONE ), while the Cargo has a small space on the back to attach a miniature figure (included) or Lego blocks (not included). The miniature figure weighs just 4.5 grams (about 0.15 ounces), but it can carry more weight. We were still able to launch and fly it with about 40 grams (1.4 ounces) of Lego bricks attached — although the drone definitely struggled, and the weight on top did cause it to tip and crash often.

I did have to be careful to make sure that the Lego bricks didn't get in the way of the rotor blades, so you have to build up without too much weight. Suffice it to say that you might be able to get a few minifigs on there, but a monstrous warship bristling with cannons will need a bigger drone.

Specs

Rotors: 4 (2 blades per rotor), replaceable, 2.6-inch diameter
Battery Size: 550 mAh Li-ion polymer (quadcopter)
Battery Life: 10/9 minutes (claimed/tested)
Size: 6 x 6 x 1.5 inches
Weight: 2.24 ounces (Airborne Cargo), 2.32 ounces (Airborne Night)

Flying

The Airborne drones are very easy to fly. To take off, you just hit the takeoff button in the FreeFlight app (Android and iOS), and the quadcopter lifts off and hovers about 3 feet up. Landing is the same; hit the button, and it does the hard work, dropping the quadcopter until it gently touches down.

4 Powerful Marketing Tips for Your Small Business

Get to Know the U.S. Small Business Administration -The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is quite amazing and most people don’t realize how many resources they have. In addition to connecting small businesses that need funding with lenders, they offer tons of information on every aspect of running a business, including developing a marketing plan, the relationship between marketing and sales, and how to set a marketing budget.
Use Social Media — but Don’t do Too Much Too Soon - Entrepreneurs getting started with social media marketing often make the mistake of overdoing it. You don’t need to be everywhere, and your messaging doesn’t need to convey all things to all people. Begin by picking a small number of social media channels that are going to help your business. Then stick to messaging that’s closely related to the core value proposition of your business. Facebook is great because it can target customers based on local geographies and other parameters. Sure, it’s a little old fashioned, but it’s basically the yellow pages of the internet age, and it’s also a way to connect people directly to your business. Others like Twitter can be used in a similar way, but Facebook is a great starting point.
Take Advantage of the Cloud - The great thing about being a newer, smaller business is that you’re not handcuffed by the same technology investments as your older, larger competition. You’re free to invest in all kinds of cloud services that place the burden of technology management on someone else. Cloud services are easy to get up and running, and they give you near infinite room to grow. On the marketing front, cloud-based services like Canva, allow you to create graphic designs for social media and other marketing efforts. Constant Contact can help you send email newsletters to current and potential customers. And there’s certainly no shortage of cloud-based marketing automation applications to choose from.
Protect Your Most Valuable Marketing Asset — Data - It doesn’t matter what business you’re in: You’re going to be generating lots of data about orders, seasonal spikes in sales, customer preferences, contact information and much more. That information will fuel all of your marketing efforts going forward — and it needs to be protected. That’s why you should consider a cloud backup service like Carbonite. With cloud backup, your data is easily accessible from any internet-connected device — and cloud backup protects your business data from malware, computer theft, accidental deletion and natural disasters.