Digital Signage Blog » iphone

Digital Signage Klips: A cool and interactive marketing system from BOSE

DigitalSignageBlog — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:33:21 +0000

Here’s a klip of a cool and interactive marketing system from BOSE that was showcasing the SoundDock 10 digital music system for the iphone or the ipod. According to the reader there is a small LCD screen that is used to display video clips. The audio from the video clip is played to the SoundDock speakers and this is controlled through a panel on the corner.

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Post tags: Audio Video, Bose, Clips Video, Digital Music System, digital signage, Interactive Marketing, iphone, Ipod, klip, lcd screen, Marketing System, Sounddock, speakers, Video Clip, Video Clips

No digital signage at voting centres Australian Election 2010

DigitalSignageBlog — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 08:07:59 +0000

This weekend every australia citizen had to vote for a new government. When I attended my local voting centre I noticed how digital signage was not there. There was a lot of the traditional papers being distributed as well as posters but there was no signs of screens or audio systems. I was disappointed when I saw this and want the politicians to know how digital signage can be utilised at election events. Here are my thoughts:

1. Communicate and engage the public – many of us don’t know who we are voting for and why we should vote for someone or for their party. I honestly didn’t have a clue who was an the ballot. I did see the ads on TV from both parties but I’m pretty sure most of us don’t have time to watch the ads so we wouldn’t have most likely have seen the ads. Engaging the public at an election event is very critical and obviously both parties want any vote that they can get. So what better way to engage the people through a digital signage system. The set up would be very simple or complex. The same marketing concept ‘making a purchasing decision at the counter’ will still apply here. If the politicians engaged the audience through a video to explain their promises to the community then at the last minute the voters may be swayed to vote for them. I believe its quite important to do this especially before the voters make their final decision.

2. Instructions – I found that there were no clear instructions for voters who were not able to understand English. My guess most of these people had a blank vote. It would have been good if there was a kiosk or screen explaining what to do in English. Even maybe an iphone app.

3. Digital voting screen – I still don’t understand why we can’t vote online or through a digital system like a touchscreen or kiosk. We should use technology at our own advantage so why not do it at these events. I wasted half an hour on the weekend just because I had to physically visit a voting centre.

4. Think of the environment – too much paper and ink was wasted at this election. Although most of this was recycled I believe it could have been replace by a digital system. The initial cost could have been expensive but the equipment could have been rented and possibly donated to the school.

For those of you who don’t know australia has a hung parliment.

Did anyone see any digital signage at their voting Centres?

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: Audience, Australian Election, Citizen, Clue, digital signage, Election Event, Election Events, Engaging The Public, Final Decision, Half An Hour, iphone, Kiosk, Last Minute, Marketing Concept, Politicians, Promises, screens, Signage System, Touchscreen, Voting Centre

The launch of ABC 24

DigitalSignageBlog — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 04:19:44 +0000

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched the 24 hour news channel on the 22^nd July 2010 at 7:30pm and I was there to witness the launch. It was a great event, the atmosphere was exciting.

The reason why I was there was because I worked on getting the backend IT infrastructure working for their studio automation system and various projects relating to ABC 24. I have worked on this project for over 7 months and it was a busy time but I’m so glad to see the results of this hard work. More importantly I was exposed to the “Broadcast World” and the Broadcast systems and have learnt how to integrate the IT world to the Broadcast world and vise versa.

The Studio for the 24 hour news channel is viewable to the general – it’s located on the ground floor of the Ultimo building in Sydney Australia. Like many other television stations, there is a glass window which allows the public to view the studio whilst it’s live. In the studio there’s your typical reporter desk, cameras (what’s unique about these cameras is that it’s all controlled via a computer system), lighting, LCD and plasma screens (there are two massive 103” plasma screens) behind the reporters desks. There is also a control room next to the studio and it’s amazing – there’s lots of screens, complex audio and video systems and this is the “brains” (where everything gets controlled) of the studio.

Just next to the studio, there is a kiosk area where the general public will be able to relax and browse the ABC website – in particular the News section. I was involved with configuring and setting up these PC’s and it looks pretty good. Here’s a picture of the kiosks.

To add on top of all this work, I was involved with the setup of the web streaming service so that the general public can view the ABC 24 news channel online via their website, or Iview and also on the iPhone. What a great service!!!

As you can clearly see, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is moving forward with technology and focused with ensuring the Australian public receives the best service by being able to update the public with the latest Australian and International news no matter when and where they are. Well done ABC!

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: 7 Months, Abc, Abc News, Abc Online, Abc Website, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Automation System, Brains, Broadcast Systems, Broadcast World, Computer System, Desks, Glass Window, Hour News, International News, iphone, Iview, Kiosk, kiosks, Launch, plasma screens, Streaming Service, Sydney Australia, Television Stations, Video Systems

Weekend fun: Blackberry advertising on the iphone

DigitalSignageBlog — Sat, 22 May 2010 09:09:32 +0000

This weekend my son my playing on my brothers Iphone and guess what I saw… a blackberry advertisement for the app world. I found it strange and funny that the Iphone application doodle was actually displaying an advertisement for it’s competitor Research In Motion. I decided to take a photo of it on my Blackberry just to share it with everyone since it was quite amusing.

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Post tags: Advertisement, advertising, blackberry, Competitor Research, Fun, Funny, Guess, iphone, Photo, research in motion

Australian Uni Students develop rival to Microsoft Surface

DigitalSignageBlog — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:31:05 +0000

I came across an interesting article on TheAustralian.com.au website (I was reading the article from my Blackberry via RSS) and I wanted to share this with everyone – especially after we posted an article on the weekend talking about the Microsoft Surface. What makes this article interesting is the fact that there may be a rival system (application is called Focus) to the Microsoft Surface. According to the article the application uses cameras to interpret gestures and movements made across a table to control an onscreen computer interface. In this case it can be a table like the Microsoft Surface. What’s more interesting is that the hardware costs less than $5000 (consists of a projector, a laptop, a motion sensor and a table) and it integrates with the Apple iPhone.

This may be a good opportunity for us to interview these students if we get a chance since they are local students.

Have a read of the article here and there’s also a video explaining how the system works.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2010. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Apple Iphone, blackberry, Cameras, Computer Interface, Control, Focus, Gestures, iphone, Laptop, microsoft, microsoft surface, Motion Sensor, Opportunity, Poll Id, Projector, Rival, System Application, Uni Students

Digital Signage Klips: Advertise Me snaps for 2010

DigitalSignageBlog — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:00:54 +0000

At the end of last year we asked our readers (http://www.digitalsignageblog.com/2009/12/04/klips-share-your-digital-signage-snap/) to send us digital signage Klips so we can share with the rest of the world. We decided to kick off the year with our own Klips that we’ve taken whilst being out and about. You can view these here http://tweetphoto.com/user/advertisemeAU and make sure you follow us in twitter (http://www.twitter.com/advertisemeAU) so you can receive our latest updates. Let’s review some of these digital signage Klips and implementations:

	I noticed this whilst waiting in line at the cinemas. The screen in portrait mode was next to other static lightboxes which nicely blended in with the surroundings. The screen was positioned right in front of the exit door which should have captured the attention of people exiting the cinema room but I noticed that not even one person looked at the screen. The screen was also right next to the bin which I think was strategic. From what I could observe, only the people standing in line waiting to enter the cinema room noticed the screen.
	This got my attention as soon as I walked past the window. The screen was installed in an enclosure that looked exactly like an iPhone and was surrounded by Christmas decorations that looked like a Christmas tree. Was very effective but it would have been better if it was a touchscreen so that it could simulate a real iphone.
	This was quite an innovative and unique design. Unfortunately, the video wall which had 8 screens were all turned off. There were also other screens displaying advertisements located in that structure.
	The virgin kiosks were different, in a sense that there were screens located at the top of the kiosk which was displaying the same content as the kiosk screen. I like the idea that you could purchase and download music files to your USB stick.
	I noticed this Britney Spears perfume stall when I was in Myers. Quite a number of people were just taking photos of this and hence the reason it was brought to my attention. I somehow managed to take a photo of the screen at the exact time when the digital content was the same as the static poster. Try to spot where the screen is located.

So there you have it. We’ve started the year with various digital signage Klips and implementations and we look forward to receiving more digital signage Klips from our readers – email the images to info@digitalsignageblog.com. Please note due to the large number of Klips we receive, we cannot post all of these so we would also like to apologise in advance.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2010. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Advertisements, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Tree, Cinema Digital, Cinema Room, digital signage, Implementations, iphone, Kiosk, kiosks, Lightboxes, Portrait Mode, Reading Cinema, Rest Of The World, Screen Caption, screens, Surroundings, Touchscreen, Unique Design, Victoria, video wall, Waiting In Line

Product review: Digital Signage Audio Tripper

DigitalSignageBlog — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:33:29 +0000

Christmas is fast approaching and we decided to review a product before the end of this year. It has taken us a while to complete this review as it involved using a video camera and editing the video but from this experience we can hopefully improve our processes and review more products next year.

Reviewed By: Advertise Me

The Product – Andrew’s Audio Tripper AS-7

The audio tripper is a two way automatic audio switcher. It has two audio inputs; a default input, a sensed input and an audio output.

In its initial state the tripper selects the default input through the output. Whenever an audio signal is fed to the sensed input, the tripper will automatically switch to this input. The LED (green light) indicates that the sensed input has been selected. Once the signal to the sensed input stops, the tripper will switch back to the default input.

There is a delay control that can be used to adjust the amount of time the tripper waits before switching back to the default input. A delay would be preferable in the case of a multi CD player, for instance, to allow for the time taken to switch between discs.

The Setup

For our testing purposes we connected the unit as follows (I thought I’d be different and sketch the diagram by hand):

In this particular setup, we used a mobile phone as a default audio input – we thought we’d be creative and use a portable device that everyone carries around.

For the sensed input, we used the audio output of a digital signage player. The digital signage player was connected to a 19″ LCD screen and played scheduled content in a playlist. The playlist contained three items:

1. Image of product review email – has no sound

2. 15 second advertise me promotional video created by Blue Pony – has sound

3. Image of John Mayer Listening to… – has no sound

The output of the audio tripper is connected to a speaker. So what basically happens is that when the audio tripper doesn’t sense any audio coming from the digital signage player i.e playlist item 1 & 3, it will play audio from the default input i.e. mobile phone. All RCA audio cables were used for these tests.

Our Verdict

We tested several audio input sources – mobile phone (Nokia n95, iphone, blackberry storm), a CD player and also a digital signage player and didn’t find any issues with the switching or the quality of the audio.
We have actually used this unit for one of our clients and we haven’t had an issues.
The only thing to consider is that if the unit looses power, it will not perform the switching but it will still continue to play the default audio input – so at least there will be audio
We would recommend to decrease the delay to the minimum setting (rotate anti-clockwise)
Can be used for many purposes – ie. backup audio for continuous music

Usage

You may ask yourself when would you use this type of setup and to be honest if you had a digital signage player, you could schedule the audio to play directly from the player but there will be certain situations and environments like a retail store, that you may need to give some control to the local store manager to play their own audio CD’s.

The Video

Here’s a quick video demonstrating how the system works.

If you want us to review your product, contact Advertise Me via email: review@advertiseme.com.au

About Advertise Me:

Advertise Me is a privately owned Australian company specialising in all aspects of digital signage solutions.

Our team of highly skilled professionals is able to introduce innovative ways for businesses to communicate with their intended audiences for a variety of purposes including informing, educating, entertaining and selling.

You can expect us to:

offer the most affordable and cost effective solutions tailored to your specific business needs.
provide you with concise and accurate information and will ensure that you understand and are comfortable with our proposals.
strive to make our clients happy and successful.

We have partnered with a number of key reputable organisations and will continue to build further partnerships to deliver the most effective solutions for our customers.

Visit our website at www.advertiseme.com.au for more information.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: 1918, advertise, Amount Of Time, Aud, Audio Input, Audio Inputs, Audio Signal, Audio Switcher, blackberry, Blue Pony, Caption, Cd Player, christmas, Default Input, Delay Control, digital signage, digital signage player, email, Initial State, Input Output, Input Sources, iphone, John Mayer, lcd screen, Mobile Phone, Multi Cd, nokia, Nokia N95, playlist, Pow, Sketch, Sound 3, Tripper, Video Camera

Weekend Fun or NOT: Displaying incorrect Facebook Events date

DigitalSignageBlog — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:26:51 +0000

This weekend we almost missed an important event that was created and organised through the facebook events application. For some reason, the event displayed the correct date on the Facebook website, but on the iphone and the blackberry it showed the incorrect date (using the mobile application) – the reminders were not triggered because of this issue. My guess is that there is probably an issue related to the timezone (ie Australia). Does anyone else have the same issue?

If you’re integrating facebook with your digital signage application and are displaying events just make sure you check and test that the dates are displaying correctly before publishing this to the screens.

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Post tags: australia, blackberry, digital signage, Events Application, Fun, Guess, Important Event, iphone, Mobile Application, Reminders, screens, Timezone

Latest Digital Signage Forum Posts

DigitalSignageBlog — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:08:28 +0000

Today, we thought we’d share with you some of the latest digital signage portal forum posts. Have you joined the portal yet?

digital signage portal Forum Latest Posts (17th September 2009)

Digital Signage Site up and running.
Travis@BluePony 15-09-09 18:49
Off Topic
Travis@BluePony 08-09-09 14:29
Blue Pony News
Travis@BluePony 02-09-09 15:07
Intel and Digital Signage
bvrabete 02-09-09 10:56
IphoneTravis@BluePony 01-09-09 21:14

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Post tags: Blue Pony, blue ray, Digital Signage Forum, Forum Posts, General Discussion, Gesture Technology, Hand Gesture, Intel, iphone, Pony News, portal forum, Ray Technology, Signage Products, Travis

Weekend Fun: Digital Signage Mobility with the Humanoid iPhone

DigitalSignageBlog — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 05:50:10 +0000

It’s the weekend and thought I’d share an exciting and fun video clip – you’ll be also surprised as well.

We previously talked about how the iPhone can be used as a digital signage player (there’s already a few companies out there who have created an application on the iPhone) but now how would you like to be served by a humanoid robot with an iPhone attached to it’s head? Watch the funky video and we’ll discuss later:

In the examples in the video, the humanoid robot with the iPhone attached as it’s head, can be used to:

wake you up – morning!!! maybe even give you a hug or a slap
entertain – it’s a dance machine…shake it’s robo booty
teach it new tricks and moves – next thing you know it will start imitating your moves
and if you’re nice to it… it might even make you a coffee (just kidding – ummmm may be it is possible)

BUT more importantly it can interact with YOU – think about it from a sales and marketing perspective and you’ll start realising that this robot can be used to attract more customers into your store and even possibly serve it’s customers (stick your own photo image as it’s head ). The screen itself can be used even to promote sales, products and specials whilst it’s dancing around entertaining it’s customers (yes it’s digital signage after all). And yes…. I’ve said it before… the possibilities seem to be endless with the future of mobile phones as digital signage players.

So that’s our weekend fun for this week and we all hope you’re having a great weekend.

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Post tags: Amp, Booty, Dance Machine, digital signage player, Embed Src, Fun Video Clip, Hl En, Http Www Youtube, Humanoid Robot, iphone, Lt, mobile phones, Param Name, Photo Image, Possibilities, Sales And Marketing, Slap, True Width, Type Application, X Shockwave Flash

Advertise Me interviews Steve from Symon

DigitalSignageBlog — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 05:00:53 +0000

This week we were lucky enough to speak with Steve from Symon and here’ s the interview:

advertise me:	Hi Steve, thanks for joining us for this interview – I know you’re a hard man to catch with your busy schedule.
Steve:	I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you.
Advertise Me:	Firstly, how did you hear about our digitalsignageblog.com?
Steve:	We monitor a wide range of resources and thought leaders in the industry and Digitalsignageblog is one of those that we monitor.
Advertise Me:	Now, please tell us a little bit about how Symon started with digital signage, and what was the inspiration behind the business?
Steve:	Symon is visual communications solutions company. We have been creating systems for managing the delivery of digital content to electronic displays for almost 30 years. We started by providing real-time system statistics to LED boards in data centers, then evolved into providing real-time agent activity statistics to displays in contact centers, then evolved to providing employee information to displays in corporations (e.g. conference rooms, cafeterias), then expanded into hospitality, health care, education, etc. The inspiration behind the company was to build the systems that would deliver information to people in a way that is easy to understand and then intuitive to act upon.
Advertise Me:	What kind of solutions does your company provide?
Steve:	We provide the hardware, software, services and content for supporting an end-to-end visual communications deployment. We like to say that we power the visual communications eco-system, which we classify as many solution-types (e.g. digital signage, kiosks, wayfinders, video walls, etc) combined to work in harmony for the purpose of creating a clear and measurable value proposition for our clients.
Advertise Me:	What makes Symon‘s products and solutions so different from other companies?
Steve:	The thing that makes us different is that we design, develop and produce all components of a solution. All of the content management/delivery hardware and software are of Symon‘s creation and we take accountability for the customer’s entire ownership experience. This means our customers have one company to hold responsible for all products and services within a deployment. We design it, produce it, sell it, install it and support it. If anything breaks or doesn’t work, our customers have “one neck to chock.”
Advertise Me:	In one of our recent digitalsignageblog.com post, we talked about “Using your Iphone as a mobile digital signage player?”. We understand that Symon has recently released such a product. Tell us a bit about this product and why your company decided to release such a product.
Steve:	Our product is InView Mobile. InView Mobile is a media play application for smartphones that retrieves and plays interactive, multi-media content that is based upon the location of the user. The purpose of InView Mobile is to provide digital signage viewers with additional information in a fashion that cannot be obtained through a traditional digital signage viewing experience. In the InView Mobile-enhanced experience, Viewers are encouraged to download and launch the InView Mobile application. Once launched, InView Mobile queries a Symon-hosted content management system to acquire and deliver a mobile version of the show currently playing on the screen. InView Mobile goes one step further in that it presents an interactive, touchscreen version of the big screen’s non-interactive show. All of this is managed through one content management system. We chose to create this product because digital signage has one big problem: It can’t quantify what people do once they’ve looked at a screen. InView Mobile gives us a platform to begin addressing this.
Advertise Me:	There are quite a number of people who believe that the Iphone should not be used a digital signage player, what do think about this? Are people not realising the true benefit of mobile marketing and mobile interactivity?
Steve:	Our customers sure think it’s a good idea and that’s all that matters to me.
Advertise Me:	Can you please share with us one of Symon‘s latest digital signage deployments/projects?
Steve:	Each month, Symon signs many new accounts. These new accounts represent marquee brands in corporate, hospitality, education, gaming, health care, etc. We have almost 8,000 customers representing 80% of the Fortune 100 and almost 70% of the Fortune 500. Look at almost any large company and there is a good chance that they will have a Symon system somewhere.
Advertise Me:	Do you have any advice for people who are planning to start a business in the digital signage industry?
Steve:	Don’t, unless they have a compelling angle that someone hasn’t thought of already (and please don’t let it be some new idea for an ad model). The competition is too great. The start ups can’t compete on the big deals and its tough to make a living off of a lot of little deals. In the five years I’ve been associated with this business, I’ve seen too many companies fail and there aren’t a whole lot of the survivors that are making money. The big guys will thrive, the little guys will have a tough go of it. I could write a book on this subject, but suffice it to say, you’ve got to have scale to win and a startup does not typically have enough resources to get scale.
Advertise Me:	This is our final question. What do you see as the next “BIG THING” in digital signage?
Steve:	Mobility. Interactivity.
Advertise Me:	Steve, thanks for taking part in this interview and we hope to speak to you again in the near future.

To read more interviews click here: http://www.digitalsignageblog.com/category/digital-signage-interview/

About Symon

Symon Communications is a 29 year provider of in-venue visual communications solutions to over 7,500 customers globally, including 80% of the Fortune 100.

About Advertise Me:

Advertise Me is a privately owned Australian company specialising in all aspects of digital signage solutions.

You can expect us to:

offer the most affordable and cost effective solutions tailored to your specific business needs.
provide you with concise and accurate information and will ensure that you understand and are comfortable with our proposals.
strive to make our clients happy and successful.

We have partnered with a number of key reputable organisations and will continue to build further partnerships to deliver the most effective solutions for our customers.

Visit our website at www.advertiseme.com.au for more information.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2009. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Activity Statistics, Busy Schedule, Cafeterias, data center, Digital Content, digital signage, Electronic Displays, Hard Man, hardware, Hardware Software Services, Health Care Education, interview, iphone, kiosks, led, Measurable Value, Real Time System, services, software, Solutions Company, symon, System Statistics, Time Agent, Value Proposition, Video Walls, visual communications, Visual Communications Solutions

Why isn’t there a flash app for the mobile phone browsers

DigitalSignageBlog — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:00:20 +0000

I’ve been using the blackberry storm for almost a year now and have also played around with my brothers iPhone during the same period so what I have found most interesting about these two mobile phones is the fact that they both don’t support flash on their mobile browsers. Now why is that – or have I not been searching hard enough?

Using flash is very common for most digital signage players/systems and ideally we would like this to be available on all browsers (both for PC and mobile).

Are you aware of any upcoming flash development/releases for the mobile phone browsers?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: blackberry, Browsers, Development Releases, digital signage, Flash Development, iphone, Mobile Phone, mobile phones, Support Flash, Using Flash

Using your Iphone as a mobile digital signage player?

DigitalSignageBlog — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:00:57 +0000

This may sound a bit ridiculous but has anyone thought about using your Iphone as a mobile digital signage player? I mean lets think about this, if people can use the Iphone to watch movies and video clips why can’t it be used as an integrated digital signage player. The unit can be easily connected to the Internet and it also has a touch screen so really its perfect for interacting with your intended audience. With the sheer number of Iphone users out there, setting a digital signage network can be easily established.

All we need now is a digital signage Iphone application… and my guess is that someone is already developing one.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 10 comments |
Post tags: apple, Audience, Caption, Digital Id, digital signage network, digital signage player, Guess, Integrated Digital, iphone, Mobile Digital, Poll Id, Sheer Number, touch screen, Video Clips, Watch Movies

Blackberry excitement for the day! Blackberry App World

DigitalSignageBlog — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:21:46 +0000

Besides the excitement of getting wet in the rain, we were excited with RIM (research in motion) releasing the Blackberry App World (the equivalent of Apples iPhone App Store). If you’re interested in downloading Blackberry App World then visit the RIM site: http://na.blackberry.com/eng/services/appworld/

I’m going to play around with this and I’ll let you know which application I’ve downloaded on my Blackberry Storm. I wonder if there’s any digital signage applications on the Blackberry App World.

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Post tags: apple, application, blackberry app world, iphone, research in motion, rim

To touch or not to touch – that is the question

DigitalSignageBlog — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 03:10:26 +0000

In this current day and age, quite a number of technologies are now using touch screens. For example, gaming consoles such as the Nintendo DS, Mobile phones (iphone, blackberry storm, various PDA’s) are all using some form of touch screen technology to further increase the interaction between the user and the device.

Why interact with digital signage?

The main reason why businesses would want to interact with their customers through digital signage are:

To provide targeted and specific information to the viewer e.g. Medical surveys whilst conducting eye sight tests.

Traffic analytics – to understand how many people interact with the system. One system that I could think of is a Health Checking system. A weight scale connected to a digital signage system could potentially be setup to perform the following:

- The system will request for the persons age and then it will measure and display their weight

- Based on the information gathered, the system will then display the recommended weight and potential health related problems associated to the persons weight.

- Obviously at the same time, there will be an area for advertising and this space can be sold to businesses in the health industry.

Any form of relationship requires a two way communication – to connect and build a strong relationship with your customers or clients you need to basically involve them in the decision making process. So if it’s to buy a new car, a digital signage signage solution at the car dealership should have the ability for the potential buyer to modify the colour or shape of the car as this can influence their purchasing decision.

So now the question is whether you should use touch screens in your current digital signage deployments. We cannot provide you with the answer to this question but what is important is to understand what the clients requirements are and then to assess whether a touch screen meets these requirements, but most importantly if you are planning to use touch screen technology in your digital signage solution, make sure you thoroughly look into the system usability i.e how can people interact with the system. Here are some examples from a youtube user that shows unusable touch screen systems – she refers to them as the “Usability Hall of Shame”:

For more Digital Signage videos visit the Digital Signage Portal.

My prediction is that touch screens will become part of the standard deployment for any future digital signage projects as we have seen touch screens mainly used for way finding, product catalogs, directories and gaming but is this all digital signage touch screens can be used for?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2008. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: blackberry, directories, gaming, interaction, iphone, medical, mobile phones, nintendo ds, product catalogs, touch screen, usability, way finding

Digital Signage and the iPhone

DigitalSignageBlog — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:31:59 +0000

The much anticipated iPhone 3G will be on sale on the 11th July 2008. I know quite a number of people who have already placed an order for this unit or are in the process of placing an order. The iPhone and many of the other Apple products are quite innovative devices and we are very interested to see how many digital signage companies will be investing and researching at ways of integrating their digital signage solutions with these iPhones. We won’t be surprised if Apple makes their mark in the digital signage industry in the next couple of months.

Now, if we look at some of the features of the iPhones there are many obvious reasons why companies will be looking at integrating the iPhones with digital signage:

3G Speeds & Internet access – faster access to the Internet means faster upload and download speeds. So if you’re a digital signage network operator it would mean that staff will be able to manage the digital signage network from almost anywhere. If you’re a content provider, you will be able to take a video or picture and upload the file in real-time.

Camera and photos with GPS- the iPhone 3G has a cool feature called geotagging. By using GPS and geotagging, almost any iPhone user will be able to become a mobile content provider for the travel industry. Just image you’re on holidays in Sydney and you take a photo of the Opera house and upload this image to Flickr. A content provider does a search for Opera house and because your photo has been tagged with sydney someone may end up using your photo -maybe even for a commission.
Itunes and wireless networking – I guess digital signage operators may be able to leverage both of these technologies and enable the public to interact with the digital signage network, how you may ask… well I can’t reveal all my ideas in case we use this for our own digital signage technology.
App Store – my guess is that many application developers will build a small applet to enable interaction between the digital signage network and the iPhone

I can’t wait until I get a hold of the iPhone and see how useful this device will be in the digital signage industry.

I hope that after you read this post, your mind is ticking with new ideas… just like mine!

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Post tags: 3g, camera, digital signage, GPS, integration, iphone