Project Insight News

July 2009 - Posts

• USGS, Project Insight customer, embarks on an important project to rid the Florida Everglades of the non native Burmese python

  Project Insight Customer, USGS, and the University of Florida want to enlist unmanned drones in the search for invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades   By Stuart Fox  Read the article and view a picture of researchers attaching a radio tracker to a Burmese python at PopSci.com   For years, Burmese pythons have invaded Florida's Everglades National Park, preying on indigenous species. Tracking them down has proven time consuming and difficult, so Park wardens have begun testing a new hunting method imported straight from the front lines of the War on Terror: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and thermal imaging technology.   David Hallac of The National Park Service already uses manned, fixed-wing aircraft to search the Everglades for birds, and he said moving to UAVs to cut down on costs is the natural next step.   Additionally, recent tests by the scientists at the University of Florida have shown that thermal imaging can detect the snakes, even though their cold-blooded bodies reflect the heat of their environment.   According to Frank Mazzotti, an Associate Professor of Wildlife Ecology at the University of Florida and one of the scientists who hunts for the pythons, the snakes regulate the temperature of their nests in a way that makes them easily visible through thermal imaging.   Despite being cold blooded, the pythons keep their nests cool in the heat, and shiver to warm up the nests when it gets too cold, providing a heat contrast to the surrounding environment.   "Whether its really hot or really cold, the nest stands out on the thermal imager," said Mazzotti. "Someone using that to find python nests might be the best move, because by going for the nests, you target the population."   Interestingly, while both the UAV and the thermal imaging search programs are moving a head at a rapid pace, there are currently no plans to combine the two technologies and put thermal imaging cameras on the UAVs. However, that doesn't mean the natural pairing of heat sensors and UAVs won't occur sooner rather than later.   "We haven't tested either, and I'm not wise enough to have a clever phrase about trying out two untested technologies together," said Mazzotti, "but I think down the road they're gonna get coupled." Posted Jul 28 2009, 01:05 PM by angelacastro with no comments

• Who Was That Project Insight Customer?

  Remember the solar advocate who introduced President Obama at the signing of the stimulus bill? Meet Namaste Solar's CEO Blake Jones. It’s amazing how many friends and family members want to chat ... after you spend some quality time with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. “I had 400 e-mails waiting for me, and dozens of voicemails,” laughed Blake Jones, president of Namasté Solar in Boulder, Colorado. The White House chose Jones and his company to represent the new green economy when Obama signed the $787 billion stimulus bill in Denver Tuesday.   Why is Namaste Solar in the news again? Continue to the full article by Marsha Walton at the Mother Nature Network. Posted Jul 10 2009, 02:31 PM by angelacastro with 1 comment(s)

• Project Insight Project Management Software Announces Release 8.1 with Flexible Portfolio Roll Ups and Tiered Timesheet Approvals

  July 01, 2009 05:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time  IRVINE, Calif.-- Project Insight, the leading mid-market project management software solution, announces the release of version 8.1 with advanced portfolio roll ups, tiered timesheet approvals, additional custom fields, and enhanced search. Project Insight helps project teams like American Honda and Tempur-pedic collaborate on project schedules, share documents and assets, allocate project resources, and run real-time reports from anywhere in the world. Cynthia West, Vice President states, “Because we focus on offering our customers the most flexible project and portfolio software in the mid market, we have upgraded the time approval process with seven unique routing and approval options. The augmented portfolio roll ups allow the project team member to group the portfolio of projects by organization or client, and then group these projects under each organization by type and other variables, while sub-totaling each section.” Additional powerful, flexible features in this release include: The ability to add custom fields on the timesheet, expense report, company, user forms Project portfolio roll-ups and sub-totaling with tertiary sorting Attach receipts to expense reports for a completely electronic submission process Additional tool tips on report column headers Enhanced search About Project Insight™ Project Insight 8.1 offers three editions for flexible, scalable project management, including hosted Workgroup, Professional and Enterprise. An on-premise or installed option is available with the Enterprise edition. An installed edition requires Microsoft Windows 2003 Server® running IIS 6.0+ and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or 2008®. Browsers supported: Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0+, Safari 3.0+, or Firefox 3.0+. Outlook Connector, Office Connector add-ons, and a mobile application are offered. About Metafuse, Inc. Metafuse Inc. is the leading mid-market project management software solution provider. Its flagship product, Project Insight, is targeted to experienced project managers that need powerful features, yet want a solution that is easy for project team members to use. Metafuse has performed software development since 1996 for its clients in the information technology, healthcare, manufacturing, financial, advertising, and other industries. Metafuse Inc. is a Microsoft Certified Partner and Developer. Project Insight and Metafuse are registered trademarks of Metafuse, Inc. Other products or brands are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners. Posted Jul 01 2009, 09:28 AM by angelacastro with 1 comment(s) Filed under: web-based project management software, project management, project management software