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NSA Received Around 2,000 Requests to Unmask Americans ... - CNSNews.com
Clemson University agricultural engineer Kendall Kirk has developed free software to help farmers track soil sampling throughout fields.
The software pairs with an inexpensive global positioning system and a laptop computer to pinpoint exactly where soil samples are taken as they are taken. This ensures growers are taking adequate samples throughout field management zones, which are areas of field with common soil characteristics that will likely require similar nutrients.
Those samples then can be sent to local Clemson Cooperative Extension Service offices for testing at Clemsons AgriculturalService Laboratory.
What youll have is a soil sample ID for each sampling zone. Send that to Clemson and youll get it back with a nutrient recommendation, Kirk said. These soil samples are guiding your nutrient application rates, your potassium and phosphate applications At the end of the day, we are trying to boost profitability.
Accurate soil data can help growers maximize yields or lower operating costs by optimizing nutrient inputs. Growers interested in obtaining a copy of the beta-testing version of the software can contact Kirk at [emailprotected].
Kirk and Hollens Free, a precision agriculture expert with the Clemson Cooperative Extension Service, demonstrated the software to attendees of a recent field day at the Edisto Research and Education Center. Growers followed a tractor as samples were collected throughout a field. A large computer monitor mounted to the rear of the tractor displayed a map generated by the software, showing the position and the zone where each sample was taken.
The soil-sampling software is among numerous informational materials Clemson Public Service and Agriculture and the Cooperative Extension Service provide South Carolina residents. At the field day, Extension also provided attendees a flash drive with a collection of digital reference materials, including enterprise budgets for row crops, results from crop variety tests, the most current pest management handbook, the 2017 Peanut Money Maker Guide, the Wheat Cheat Sheet and more. Growers can contact their local Extension office about obtaining a flash drive of these materials.
The field day focused on precision agriculture and included numerous presentations on emerging agriculture technologies from Clemson experts and representatives of Blanchard Equipment Company, which cosponsored the event.
We want to provide the educational materials and tools growers need to reduce the barriers for utilization of precision ag technologies, Kirk said.
The Edisto Research and Education Center in Blackville in recent years has expanded its precision agriculture program that utilizes new technologies like unmanned aerial vehicles, sensors and GPS equipment to make farming more efficient, profitable and environmentally friendly. It has a particular focus on reducing agricultural use of water, pesticides and fertilizer.
Farmers should embrace the technologies not only because they improve farm profitability, but they show policymakers that farmers are doing all they can to be good environmental stewards, said Harry Ott, president of the South Carolina Farm Bureau.
We have to show the public the 99 percent of the population who consumes the food grown by just 1 percent of the population that we are doing our part to protect water, to protect the environment and to provide a sustainable source of food, Ott said. Fertilizer reduction and water conservation are attractive to the public that drives the policies that affect agriculture.
Agriculture and forestry comprise South Carolinas largest industry with an annual economic output of $41.7 billion.
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Free software can help farmers track soil sampling - Southeast Farm Press
Now drone operators can stitch an unlimited number of photos, create maps without resolution limits and run algorithms to analyze their data for free
PrecisionHawk, a leading commercial drone and data company, has opened access to its professional mapping and analytics software,PrecisionMapper, for free. By eliminating the cost barrier, operators have the flexibility to bring their own drone and consistently generate value from aerial information.
Drones have the potential to capture more high-resolution data than any other technology, but we believe that drones are being under-utilized because of the cost barriers around processing, analytics and storage, said PrecisionHawk CEO Michael Chasen. Users should be able to walk into any store, buy a drone and use that drone to generate business insights for free.
PrecisionHawk announced the launch of the free version of PrecisionMapper today at the AUVSI Unmanned Systems conference.
We believe that this move allows more innovation from more people, Chasen continued. PrecisionHawk has gained a lot from the advanced thinking of this community, and this is our way of giving back.
By providing this software for free, PrecisionHawk is giving operators of drones with visual cameras the capability to explore the financial value of aerial data in any industry and is encouraging further use and adoption of drone technology.
Operators can quickly and easily upload imagery collected from a drone to PrecisionMapper. Using GPS information embedded within images, the software automatically stitches together a complete map, viewable in both 2D and 3D. Free users of PrecisionMapper can create up to 60 surveys a year without resolution or export limits.
In addition, users can add ground control points and access free analysis tools for construction, agriculture, insurance, and energy including:
When professionals have the opportunity to get hands-on experience with PrecisionMapper, they will be able to better understand the power of aerial data and how it can be best incorporated into their existing businesses, said Chasen.
For more information, or to create a free account and start using PrecisionMapper, please visit precisionhawk.com/precisionmapper.
Image courtesy of PrecisionHawk
Fstoppers | The Free Skin Softening Software You've Probably Never Heard Of Fstoppers The skin softening filter is called the Dynamic Skin Softener, and is buried within the extensive list of filters of the Nik Color Efex Pro 4 editing software. The Nik Color Efex Pro 4 software was made available for free as part of the Nik Collection ... |
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The Free Skin Softening Software You've Probably Never Heard Of - Fstoppers
After lingering at $35 and ranging as high as $49, Amazon's free shipping threshold has returned to $25, a sign that the online retailer is prepared to defend its core business even as it branches out into digital subscriptions and a growing array of consumer electronics devices.
The lower threshold is a boon for casual Amazon shoppers who are not Prime members: they can add millions of eligible items to their shopping carts (typically those sold or fulfilled directly by Amazon.com) and enjoy free shipping on orders greater than $25.
Now that numerous other online retailers now offer $35 free shipping thresholds, including Target and Jet.com, Amazon's decision to lower its threshold to the original $25 might seem generous.
But before you rush to place orders that have languished while you searched for additional items to meet the former $35 threshold, consider that Amazon is no longer the king of free shipping online. That title now arguably belongs to Walmart, which recently introduced free two-day shipping on orders over $35. Amazon's free shipping option, meanwhile, can take up to eight days if you aren't a Prime member.
In fact, Amazon's decision to raise its free shipping threshold to the high watermark of $49 in early 2016 was arguably a way to incentivize more people to sign up for the $99-per-year Prime membership, which offers free two-day shipping with no minimum orders on eligible items, in addition to numerous other benefits. It was also a way to keep rising shipping costs in check. Amazon later returned the threshold to $35, where it had been since the first $10 raise in October 2013.
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Amazon Lowers Free Shipping Threshold to $25 - PCMag India