Proper Software Licence Compliance Helps the Economy

Software licence compliance is something more and more businesses are beginning to take seriously. There are several reasons that should motivate an organisation into addressing their software licence requirements, many to do with the actual impact it can have on the productivity and profitability of their business.

These reasons alone are normally enough to energise businesses into tackling their software licence requirements; however, there is another benefit to doing this which you may not have factored into the equation. As this article will explain, ensuring you comply with your software licences will help stimulate growth in the economy.

Stimulate economy growth

Those uneducated in software licence requirements may be staggered to learn that 27% of the software used in the United Kingdom at this moment in time is being used illegally. This means that over a quarter of all software users in the United Kingdom are breaking intellectual property law.

This has an absolutely huge impact on the British Software Industry. Businesses that are using software illegally are costing the industry something in the region of a billion pounds a year in lost revenue. This has a subsequent impact on both the UK and the global economy.

Making a difference together

The situation is similar to that regarding energy saving. Many people argue that ensuring they switch the light off when they leave a room makes too little difference to be worth the effort; ‘it is nothing more than a drop in the ocean’, they say.

What these people need to understand is that if we all take the same attitude then we can actually make a real difference. It is true, if just one organisation adheres to software licence regulations then it will have little to no impact; however, if all businesses do it then a difference can be made. Businesses can then go some way to repairing the one billion pound void that is currently being caused by its neglect.

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Hiring and Social Media

Do you have a Facebook profile? Have you considered the impact this profile might have on your career? It’s not just personal anymore. Social media has become a factor in all facets of business, including hiring. Social media has changed the landscape in a big way for both companies looking to hire, as well as job seekers. Questions plaguing hiring managers include – how and to what extent should social media be used in decision making?

Many people choose to make their lives very public through social media. If it is out there in the open, you should be able to use the information in the hiring process, right? Well, the answer lies somewhere between yes and no. The advantages of using social media are that employers can see firsthand what candidates are interested in, as well as how they choose to represent themselves online. Since it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender, race, religion, age, or other similar factors (according to the Federal Equal Employment Laws), most of the information visible on profile pages (especially Facebook) is not permitted to be a factor in the hiring process.

The main concern for hiring managers then becomes – if you do happen to see this information about a job candidate, how do you purge that information from your mind when making the hiring decision? The answer is that you can’t. An article in Inc. Magazine states that if you are going to use social media to screen candidates, there is an approach that protects the employer. The suggested solution is to separate the information gathering process so the person who does the online search isn’t part of the hiring chain, perhaps a screening agency or another employee. Have that person look at a candidate’s online profile for legitimate business issues, and then ask them to brief you about their educational background and business experience (without disclosing their protected information).

While there are steps that must be taken to ensure that hiring and social media practices are legal, social media can be a huge asset when looking for the ideal person to fill a position. LinkedIn, for example, is a great hiring tool. Companies can post job openings and individuals can create profiles that serve as an online resume.

In conclusion, there are major pros and cons when using social networking as a tool in the hiring process. We are curious about your position on this topic:

Do you think companies should be able to use information from social sites like Facebook when making hiring decisions? Do you have any other relevant comments or stories you’d like to share?

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Survey and Mapping Drones and Their Key Functions

Modern high-tech drones or aerial flying machines are equipped with so many useful and amazing features that a person is left spellbound. They come with a mobile app or software application that allows a user to easily control their various functions and also make use of certain tools that make the overall experience more enjoyable, fruitful, and productive. Depending on the main function these machines perform, specific types have also been manufactured so that those who want them to achieve a particular purpose can make use of them. The benefit of these drones is that the person using it only has to learn a few specific functions to use them to his/her advantage.

One such type of a drone is known as a “mapping drone”. This drone is capable of providing you with real-time data of the land where your business practices are being carried out in order to inspect, analyze and execute. You can easily create two-dimensional maps using a software interface that is designed to be user-friendly. It is also possible to make 3D videos with waypoints on maps that tell a complete picture of what is going on. You can fly through the map created by your drone using the software in order to make certain business decisions.

What Does a Mapping Platform Offer?

A mapping drone along with its software application offers a three-step process, which is fully automated to achieve the objective of mapping conveniently. These steps are named as: plan, fly and process. Using the platform you are able to choose the area that you wish to map and the drone automatically calculates its flight path to cover that area. There is a software program on board that captures just the right photos and also attaches a tag with each photo stating exactly where it was taken. Landing is also fully automated and the user doesn’t need to interfere with the flight plan. However, he is able to press the Return-to-Land button when he thinks the drone is mapping the wrong area or if it is not required to fly again.

The drone comes equipped with a post-processing software application that collects all the photos captured by the drone and then creates high-resolution maps depending on how high the drone was able to fly. There is an option of zooming in so that you can see clearly everything from large aerial views to highly zoomed-in small objects and details. The flight plans can be saved in the computer so that you can repeat them at a later time easily and without having to spend time on new flight planning. All these are very powerful features and they are developed especially for mapping drones designed for this purpose.

Benefits of Drone Aerial Mapping

The latest standard in drone mapping, 3DR offers a horde of attractive features that make their applications even more well-defined. The benefits include;

· Accurate resolution – Extra high resolution of automatically created maps allows the users to zoom in to minute details in order to clearly see what’s going on

· Auto-pilot – Image acquisition is achieved through auto-pilot, which means the flight is fully autonomous and the drone is able to make intelligent decisions based on the flight plan

· Automated workflow – The drone is not just able to take-off and land on its own, it is also able to capture images, tag them and then post-process the data collected to create meaningful results

· Desktop processing – Not all drones come equipped with advanced desktop processing that allows the user to communicate with the drone using a software interface

· Low-flying capability – A mapping drone is capable of flying very low to capture high-resolution and crisp images of the land that it maps

· Increased reliability – The outcome of a mapping drone can be fully trusted based on highly accurate results with high endurance and remarkable coverage area

· Inexpensive and robust – The same features can also be realized using any other high-tech drone with a high-resolution camera, but mapping drones are especially designed for this purpose and therefore they are incredibly cheap and very robust and long-lasting

· Protective cover – Most mapping drones come with a protective hard case because of their sensitive job nature

The software program that comes with these drones is loaded with advanced flight planning and image processing tools. These tools are capable of taking in a large number of photos to combine them into very accurate 2D maps with geo-referencing. These tools are so easy to use that even a beginner is able to benefit from them without any trouble. There is no training or prior experience required to use the application for the purpose of mapping. The aerial maps have one more characteristic and it is known as “visual-spectrum”. An expert photogrammetrist would be able to tell you what this attribute actually means.

Extra Features List

Most mapping drones have an improved battery life so that they are able to offer maximum coverage area. You don’t have to worry about calculating flight time and then see how much area will be covered in that time. The drone does all the calculations on its own and allows you to specify only that area, which will actually be covered in a specific flight plan. These drones offer up to 40 minutes of flight time and in this timeframe they are able to cover up to 250 acres of land. Imagine their speed and accuracy of operation in such a long time.

A mapping drone is available for anywhere between $5,000 to $100,000 depending on the number of features it provides and the quality of its mapping results. This price is not much if we consider all the long-term benefits of such a machine especially for companies that require aerial maps on a regular basis to receive updated information about the land. If you are ready to spend money on a drone for your company that would prove to be very useful and robust, consider investing in a mapping drone to benefit from all the above-mentioned advantages and even more!

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Basics About Flight Simulator Games

There are a lot of things that are both fun and functional about flight simulator games that you should know about. The best part about these games is that the majority of them are able to actually create situations that are much like those that you encounter when you are really flying. In the beginning these games did not have a lot of details except just flying over different types of terrain.

However flight simulator games are something that has really come a long way with life like terrain and a huge variety of different aircraft that you can pick from. These games are more realistic all of the time. Plus you are going to have a huge variety of different choices when it comes to features on today’s games.

One of the first things that you will notice about the flight simulator games today is how many choices for different choices there are for aircraft. With some games you can actually fly nearly every aircraft that you could ever imagine. This includes that there are a wide variety of actual aircraft that are designed to fly just like the real ones.

In addition with the flight simulator games the interior of these aircraft is the exact same as the interior in the actual aircraft. This includes that the buttons and meters that are featured as part of the dash or control panel are the exact same as well. So when you practice flying with one of these flying simulators it is just like really being a pilot and flying a real plane.

There are a variety of things that flight simulator games react with like the player’s speed, the altitude to which they are flying, and even the turbulence that they are flying in. These are all important in order for the aircraft to have a successful take off and landing. Plus there are things that need to happen with any pilot to ensure a safe flight and these have to be observed for success with the game.

Some of the things that have to happen to be successful with flight simulator games include making sure that the right angle and speed are followed for the take off and landing to be successful. One of the things that you should look for as you look at flight sim games is how realistic the graphics are and what quality they are. This is how you can easily differentiate between the best and the worst choices.

There are other things that you will have to be aware of with flight simulator games like that the airports, runways, and hangers are realistic.

There are a variety of other things that you can experience with flight simulator games like that there are different conditions and modes for piloting. These include that the weather and terrain are different as well. It is going to give players the ability to really feel like they are flying a plane and to give them the same challenges that real pilots face.

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