I just stumbled across an image of a bike with digital screens. Is this real or is it fake?

Here’s the picture:

If it is real, here’s a list of my concerns:

• theft – now it gives thieves more of a reason to steal your bike… they now will get a free screen
• what happens if it rain? is it a waterproof screen?
• what happens if there’s a strong wind? will the bike fall?
• will pedalling generate more electricity for the battery to run the screens?
• safety – if the screens draw too much attention to drivers will it cause accidents?

I must give it to the company or engineers that came up with this idea… but to be honest this digital signage implementation is not my cup of tea.

Category: Digital Signage Weekend Fun

Before we first started our company advertise me – we didn’t have a clue what the industry was called and the different terminologies that was used to describe this booming industry. Back then, the idea of having advertisements  or content such as menus, images, videos, weather feeds, and text displayed on digital screens was still at its infancy. Commercial plasma screens was becoming more popular and with the introduction of LCD screens, prices of plasmas was becoming more affordable. If you look at the below image of google trends for the term digital signage, you’ll notice that this term became more popular (from google’s search perspective) in 2007.  I tried trending the term digital out of home and dooh but google responsed with “do not have enough search volume to show graphs.”

digital signage google trends

One of the terminologies that we were unfamiliar with was  DOOH – to date we still don’t use this term that often since it has been replaced by Digital Signage. Now to me, the two terms DOOH and Digital Signage can be used interchaneably and I don’t care if there is a difference. One might say that DOOH (since it’s not at home) is a screen network in a public area and that digital signage can be located in a corporate building to display internal communications. To me, both are the same but Digital Signage sounds shorter and easier to say so we’ll stick with this.

If you have a different opinion let us know.

Category: Digital Signage Blog News

This week we received klips of a digital signage implementation at the University of Technology in Sydney Australia. The setup included several video walls in the main building of the university. This is one of the main high traffic areas so it does make sense to install digital signage there. The most interesting and unique factor of this implementation (besides using 6 screens for the wall) is the way the screen were installed on the pillars. There is an additional partition that seems to be angled rather than just flush mounted against the wall. Why? My guess is to increase the viewing angle for the students walking past and also to hide the equipment at the back of the screens.
This university has adopted digital signage quite well and also incorporated the use of projectors near the front of the entrance. Well done!

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Category: Digital Signage Klips

Digital menu boards are becoming the greatest marketing tool for Restaurants and food outlets. Why? Because food can be more engaging and enticing if there’s motion and if information can be updated based on time schedules.

One of the main advantages of using digital signage is the fact that if you own multiple stores at different locations, you can centrally manage all of these from the head office.

Traditionally, one of the most time consuming component of a menu board is changing the prices and images of the food items. With a digital menu board this task has become so much easier. For some digital signage solutions, all you need to do is update the prices in an image editing tool or edit a text file.

For those of you who are interested in a digital menu board visit advertise me – they are offering a packaged digital menu board solution which includes the following (click here to view their offerings and pricing):

• 40″ Commercial Grade LCD FHD display screen
• (Other screen sizes also available)
• Built-in Digital Signage player
• Creation and design of your menu board (preview some of our designs)
• 1 Year Commercial Warranty
• Operations/Training Manual
• Installation Guide
• Delivery

So take the step now and GO DIGITAL and contact Advertise Me to discuss your digital menu board solution.

Category: Digital Signage Blog News

At a recent digital signage implementation at Liverpool Hospital, we installed a digital screen at two areas of the hospital, one was at the student lobby and the other was at the training area theater. The digital signage system is used as a communication tool for staff and students.

One of the screens was installed in front of the training area theater that has a high traffic area. When we finished installing the screen, one of the training sessions also ended and within just a few minutes some of the visitors walked up to the screen and made some interesting comments. Most of asked us if they can take the screen home and how much it would cost. We responded that the screen was commercial and it wasn’t something they would want for their home.

The other interesting comment was can they watch TV. Being a commercial grade screen it didn’t come with a TV Tuner, so simply the answer was NO… and once again it’s a commercial grade screen. I guess from this, we realised how most people are not educated about the difference between residential and commercial grade screen. But what was more interesting is the fact that quite a number of people noticed the screen… it actually grabbed the visitors attention.

Now this was the same case when we installed the second screen at the student lobby area. Most of them were students and they too asked whether they can watch TV on this screen, unfortunately NO. What we did notice is that after 30 minutes of installing the screens students gathered around the digital signage screen and talked about some of the images that were displaying… that’s the power of digital signage and how it can be used to grab peoples attention and it really works.

digital signage student area

student area watching after 30 minutes of the install

Category: Digital Signage Blog News

Have you ever spent time looking at the packaging labels on the plasma/LCD boxes? I have about 5 boxes of Plasma  screens near my desk and when I looked at the boxes I noticed that there are quite a number of labels on the box. Some we actually need to pay particular attention to – especially if we were to transport the boxes.

So today, I decided to investigate what do some of these labels mean; some are self explanatory and you don’t need to be a genius to figure out what they mean but then there are some that seem unusual.

Let’s have a look at the images (note:I have provided my interpretation of what they mean – if it’s incorrect then let me know):

	The first image means to always have two people to lift the box since its approximately 40kg – this is normally a OHS requirement so whatever you do and now matter how strong you are don’t lift the screens by yourself. The middle image shows you to remove the plastic clips at the bottom of the box which is used to hold the top and bottom sections of the box. The last image, gives you a breakdown of all the components you need to remove in order to get to the screen.
	The top left corner image means not to stack anything on top of the box. The top right hand corner image means to keep the box upright i.e this way up. The bottom left image is a picture of a glass which obviously means that the item inside is fragile and there’s glass inside the box so take care when transporting the box. There’s also an additional message on the side of the box stating “As a glass product, treat it with extreme care.”. The bottom right image gives you an indication that the weight of the box is 40kg and it’s heavy.
	The first image means not to transport the box  laying flat and to make sure it’s in the upright position (middle image). Also make sure you don’t drop the box because there’s glass in there. Once again, there’s the message “As a glass product, treat it with extreme care.” and the Caution message: “Transport only in upright position”.
	The first two images are the same as above. The last two images indicate how to best clamp the box.

I wonder how many courier or freight companies transporting these goods actually understand these label mean and adhere to the instructions. I have seen some couriers take down the screens and had them in a vertical position… ouch. Fortunately the screen still worked but it’s best to follow the guidelines provided on the boxes.

Category: Digital Signage Blog News

digital signage is one of the most cost effective ways to market your restaurant or store. We were recently engaged to provide and install a cost effective solution for Thai Riffic (obviously a Thai restaurant) based in Randwick Australia.

Although the requirements were very simple (to display images with transition effects) we delivered a solution that was simple and easy to use but most importantly one that had value added benefits.

Uploading content to the player is easy. The store owner needs to open up a locked compartment on the side of the screen and plugs a USB dongle into the port. The player automatically synchronises the content from the USB port to a CF card. Once the synchronisation completes, the store owner just removes the USB dongle and closes the compartment. Yes it’s that easy!!!

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Category: Digital Signage Blog News

I was walking past a real estate agent and noticed an error message on their digital signage screen. Obviously being in this field I couldn’t help myself and take the camera out to take a photo of the error message: continue reading »

Category: Digital Signage Klips

Here we would like to introduce a new section called Klips. This allows anybody anywhere in the world to share their digital signage moment with the rest of our readers.

If you would like to share your digital signage snap with us and the digital signage community, please send in your klips to info@digitalsignageblog.com with a brief of your snap, including location where it was taken, your name and/or business name.

At the end of each week we will select a few interesting klips and post them here. So keep an eye out, and get snapping!

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Category: Digital Signage Klips, Featured Post