Microsoft Remote Desktop

The first tool is the built in Microsoft Remote Desktop. This needs to be enabled in your Operating System by going to Control Panel – System – Remote Tab and click “Allow Connections from Computers running any version of Remote Desktop” for less secure connections or “Allow Connections only from computer running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication” for more secure connections.

We generally use this tool on the server. The advantages of using this is that it’s slightly faster than the second tool. There is also an option to connect your local drives to your remote pc which is great for transferring files.

VNC

There are several flavours of VNC (http://www.realvnc.com/) This software tool provides remote control of your digital signage player and basically allows you to see and interact with your digital signage software across any network. The one we use is called tightvnc (http://www.tightvnc.com/) and it is free for personal and commercial use. For managing the players, we recommend using this tool rather than remote desktop since it does not lock the remote PC.

For both tools, you’ll need to make sure you have the relevant ports enabled on your firewall.

With VNC there seems to be a limit to 8 characters for the password but either way both tools are highly recommended.

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Post tags: Authentication, Basic Tools, Control Digital, Control Panel, Control System, digital signage player, Digital Signage Software, Firewall, Flavours, Free Tools, microsoft, Microsoft Player, Microsoft Remote Desktop, Microsoft Windows Operating System, Nbsp, Pc Tools, Playes, ports, Pros And Cons, Remote Control, Remote Desktop, Signage Solution, Software Tool, Tool, Transferring Files, Two Tools, Vnc, Windows Operating System, Windows Player

• Hardware rental of the LCD Screen, Stand and Digital Signage player
• Transportation of the goods to and from the exhibition hall
• Installation of the system and removal at the end of the event
• Template Design
• Management and Monitoring of the digital signage solution – we were able to monitor the system remotely and make the relevant changes if required

During this exhibition, we introduced an innovative way for the exhibitor to manually switch content with a push of a button. The idea was that on quiet periods, the exhibitor will push a button and the screen will display specials to draw more attention to their booth.

In addition, we also integrated Social Media (Facebook) with digital signage. The company’s Facebook page with the number of Fans was displayed.

We know how stressful attending and participating in exhibitions are, so let us take care of your digital signage needs whilst you take care of more the important taks.

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Post tags: Design Management, Digital Integration, digital signage, digital signage player, Exhibition Booth, Exhibition Booths, Exhibition Hall, Exhibition Halls, exhibitions, Exhibitor, Facebook, Hardware Rental, lcd screen, Nbsp, Quiet Periods, Relevant Changes, Signage Solution, Solution Integration, Taks, Template Design

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Post tags: Capital Cities, Contact, Digital Displays, Digital Signage Software, Digital Signage Solutions, Enterprise, hardware, Melbourne, Menu Board, Perth, plasma, Servers, Signage Solution, Solutions Provider, States In Australia, Sydney, That Meets Your Needs, Tool, Touch Screens, Video Walls

Advertise Me was one of the many exhibitors at the event which included large companies such as Sharp, Fujitsu and Netcomm. During this exhibition, Advertise Me stood out from their competitors by demonstrating the use of Social Networking tools such as Twitter and Foursquare to communicate real time information on the screen. The setup of their stand was also unique which incorporated the use of a video wall(2×2 47″ FULL High Definition LCD Panasonic screens) to demonstate different applications for digital signage. Here’s the setup:

The digital signage software that was used for delivering and distributing the content to the screens was PADS Professional developed  by a Netherlands based company called Net Display Systems. Net Display Systems has thousands of installations in multiple market sectors from transportation, corporate and government to hospitality and retail.

The PADS Professional software was installed on the Shuttle XS35 – one of the smallest and powerful PC we’ve seen on the market. The unit has an atom processor with an NVIDIA ION graphics chip set and is able to play Full HD videos without any issues. In actual fact,  we played a number of Full HD Videos at the same time and didn’t notice any lag. For convenience, the unit can be mounted on the back of a screen with a Shuttle VESA mounting kit.

The top left hand screen demonstrated the use of Twitter, Foursquare, News and Weather feeds, and the ability to show real time video (USB Camera) as an input source.

The top right hand screen demonstrated the use of Advertise Me’s custom built SMS solution. This digital signage solution enabled visitors to select a music video clip from a list by texting a code to a mobile number. According to the company, this application can be used with any digital signage software that can be connected to the Internet and it’s use can be applied in any industry. Advertise Me also used this solution to distribute the PADS demo key via SMS.

The bottom left hand screen played marketing videos and was also used to demonstrate the PADS software. This allowed Advertise Me to answer and show the user how easy the system is to use.

The bottom right hand screen played an image slideshow demonstrating the use of digital signage in different industries such as hospitality, education, retail and the corporate sector.

Facial recognition, hand and SMS interactivity were some of the innovative technologies being showcase at the exhibition and it is anticipated that businesses will soon adapt to these new technologies in Australia.

Advertise Me would like to thank their sponsors for their help and assistance:

• Net Display Systems
• Shuttle/Altech
• Panasonic
• Visual Sounds
• Squeak.com.au

Here’s a few more photos of the expo:

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Post tags: Chip Set, Darling Harbour Exhibition Center, Darling Harbour Exhibition Centre, Definition Lcd, Digital Signage Software, Digital Signage Solutions, Exhibition Centre Sydney, Exhibitors, Facial Recognition, Fujitsu, Input Source, Interactive Solution, Interactivity, Ion Graphics, Key Technologies, Market Sectors, Mobile Number, Music Video Clip, Netcomm, Networking Tools, Nvidia, Pc Hardware, Possibilities, Professional Software, Signage Industry, Signage Solution, social networking, Social Networks, Sydney Australia, Tradeshow, twitter, Video Usb, video wall, weather

Here’s a few photos of the installation:

About The University Of Newcastle

Sector leader in providing opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds.

Over 40,000 students including onshore, offshore and distance education.

Expanded into the Newcastle city centre on a campus accommodating business, law and creative arts students. Planning underway to establish education, humanities and social sciences disciplines in the city.

Home to the best engineering and health faculties in the country relative to size.

Even stronger health and medical research capabilities through the new state of the art Hunter Medical Research Institute building.

Increased reach across the region and overseas through expanded online program delivery.

Established infrastructure and support systems that provide one of the best student experiences in the country.

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Post tags: Arts Students, Best Engineering, Communicating With Students, Course Timetables, Creative Arts, Date Time, Digital Communication, digital signage, Electrical Engineering Department, Entrance Hall, Front Entrance, Humanities And Social Sciences, Implements, Information Course, Landscape, Medical Research Institute, Newcastle City Centre, Photos, Portrait Mode, Program Delivery, Research Capabilities, Sector Leader, Signage Solution, Slideshow, Social Sciences Disciplines, Student Communication, Student Experiences, Timetable, University Of Newcastle

However, based on our experience working with large corporations they are most likely to have a Cisco or HP managed switches. To be honest working with this infrastructure can become very troublesome in some ways. Especially if the company uses VLAN tagging and manually disables each port. This means the installer needs to co-ordinate and rely on the IT network administrator to make the necessary changes on the networking switches. If it’s not done correctly or in a timely fashion, it could mean that the installer has no way of testing the digital signage players.

In my opinion, unless you need the additional features mentioned before I would personally just use an unmanaged switch – the overall solution becomes cheaper as well. As part of advertise me‘s services, we design and supply all the necessary infrastructure to build an enterprise digital signage solution that includes the networking component.

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Post tags: Additional Resources, Advertis, Cables, cisco, Cisco Switches, digital signage, Downside, Large Corporations, Man Hours, Managed Switches, Medium Business, Necessary Infrastructure, Network Administrator, Networking, Networking Component, Networking Switches, Quality Of Service, Service Security, Signage Solution, Switches, Timely Fashion, Types Of Switches, Unmanaged Switch

• You can quickly and easily update prices on a digital board rather than spending more money to print the posters
• Use animation to grab attention. A video clip of the food is more enticing than a static image.
• Schedule the food menu based on the time of the day. E.g. Breakfast for the morning, lunchtime for the afternoon and dinner for the evening.
• Easily manage and update the content yourself rather than relying on a designer. Once you have the template designed, all you need to do is just update the content. The process of changing the content has now become so much easier.
• It’s now more affordable!!!!

Now this week, we assisted a Pizza Take away store with the implementation of a digital signage solution.3 screens were installed behind the front counter and 1 near the front. The front screen is used for specials whereas the 3 behind the counter is used to display the menu. The solution is simple but most importantly affordable – this was the main criteria for the business owner.

Below are a few pictures of the implementation:

Digital menu boards can be implemented with the most simplest solution e.g. using a Screen with a built in player or for a large retail chain it can be a network of digital signage players with Content Management Servers.

It’s only a matter of time before we will see all menu boards going digital. So if you’re interested in a digital menu board have a look at this special package.

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Post tags: Animation, Animation Effects, Business Owner, Content Management, digital signage, Food Menu, Implementation, Light Boxes, Lunchtime, Management Servers, Matter Of Time, Menu Board, Menu Boards, Menus, Moving, Pizza, posters, Retail Chain, screens, Signage Solution, Static Image, Time Of The Day, Usb Drive, Video Clip

There are some digital signage solutions that are just able to automatically rotate and crop the content so that it fits on the screen no matter if it’s landscape or portrait but in the case where your digital signage system doesn’t have this feature, what do you do? To solve this issue you need to have two sets of designs or templates – one in landscape and then one in portrait.Then, when scheduling the content the administrator needs to work out which screens will use the landscape content and which ones will use the portrait content. If you have more than 20 screens with a mix of landscape and portrait screen this can be a very tedious task. I guess if you have setup your screens to be within a group e.g Landscape screens, Portrait screens then this task may be easier but at the end of the day does your network require both screen orientations? If not, I would say stick with one type of screen orientation to minimise administration and design efforts.

As digital signage solution providers we provide consultancy services and help them understand the benefits and pitfalls of maintaining a digital signage solution.

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Post tags: Colleagues, Confusion, Consultancy Services, Content Creator, Design Efforts, digital signage network, Digital Signage Solutions, Landscape Designs, Layouts, Network Group, Pitfalls, Screen Orientation, Screen Orientations, screens, Signage Solution, Signage System, Solution Providers, System Doesn, Tedious Task, Templates

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Post tags: advertisers, Advertising Company, Audience Measurement, digital signage, digital signage player, marketing, Measurement Tools, Measurements, Poll Id, Raw Data, Screen Server, screens, Server Digital, Signage Solution, Software Tool, Webcam

We were proud and honoured to have been involved with the implementation of a digital signage solution for Bach Real Estate.

About Bach Real Estate

Bach Real Estate was established by Le and Nina Bach in a quest to provide a personalised and genuine level of service to vendors, buyers, landlords and tenants alike in the residential property industry.

After years of running their own successful businesses, it has always been Le and Nina’s intention to get into the property industry. Through their own experiences in dealing with various real estate agents in buying and selling properties, they saw that there was great room for improvement in the standard of delivering property services.

After a few light discussions on the ordinary services provided by real estate agents, serious research was conducted to establish if there was such a gap in the industry. This was the driving force that led the establishment of Bach Real Estate – to fill the gap in the quality of services that exist.

Bach Real Estate’s mission is to provide integrity in their services – that is being Committed in doing what they say. In working with their clients, they are Determined to understand the needs and achieving the Results that the clients want.

The requirements

Being a young and innovative business, Bach Real Estate wanted to stand out from their competitors and use the latest digital technology to their advantage whilst being very conscious on the environment. Instead of using the traditional static paper based property listings at the front of their office, Bach Real Estate engaged advertise me to install a digital signage solution that would engage and attract attention from people walking past. The solution needed to display property listings, advertisements and marketing materials.

The solution

The solution we provided is simple, affordable and scalable. Two 46″ LED screens with a built in ad player was installed at the front of their office and this solution allows the business to eventually expand to an enterprise network down the track.

The ad player allows the business to play videos, text and images in zones or as a full screen. What makes this solution different is the ability to have PIP (Picture in Picture) as one of the zones and also gives the ability for an external video source (using HDMI, VGA, Svideo) to be connected to the screen.

In addition, the ceiling poles were customised to suit the location of the screens.

We wish Bach Real Estate all the best with their business and their future ventures.

Here’s some fun and interesting images of the opening day:

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Post tags: Advertisements, Bach, Buying And Selling Properties, Consciouns, Crowd, digital signage, Digital Technology, Driving Force, Enterprise Network, Experiences, Gap, Implementation, Innovative Business, Integrity, Intention, Landlords And Tenants, Latest Technology, Led Screens, Marketing Materials, Nina, Real Estate, Real Estate Agents, Residential Property, Running, screens, Serious Research, Signage Solution, Solu, Solutio

Harris Digital Signage is looking for an experienced and technical Senior Product Line Manager to manage Harris? Digital Signage solution and products. In this role, you will be a member of a dynamic team with a start-up mentality to innovate and drive the direction of the Harris Digital Signage Solution for Digital-Out-of-Home networks. If you are a highly motivated individual with a proven track record and looking to bring innovative solutions to the market, you don?t want to miss this great opportunity. 

While managing a team of two product managers, gather, prioritize, and document solution requirements and validate value proposition 
Lead cross-functional team in concept development, new product introduction and lifecycle management for Harris? Digital Signage solution 
Communicate and refine solution requirements with development team, and successfully guide product design, implementation, testing, and maintenance. 
Analyze market and business trends, and develop solution requirements and roadmap plans to deliver to future market needs across a variable set of target verticals 
Manage cross-functional relationships for the development of new products – including working with engineering, manufacturing, finance, and operations. 
Participate on relevant standards committees and help to ensure product compliance with industry standards and regulatory requirements 
Accountable for program metrics, including roadmap development, schedule, cost analysis, pricing analysis, product forecasting, product quality, and customer satisfaction 
Present technology, product, and roadmap to key audiences, including customers, partners, and internal groups. 

Qualifications: 
* Undergraduate degree in Business, Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical field. 
* 5+ years of technical Product Management and/or technology marketing experience with 2+ years in a supervisory capacity 
* 5+ years of expereince hiring, managing and developing a great team 
* 5+ years of expereince in delivering products and services in a high growth environment 
* 5+ years of expereince with technical concepts, managing tradeoffs and evaluating opportunistic new ideas with internal and external partners 

Preferred Additional Skills: 
* MBA and/or advanced degree highly desirable 
* Proven analytical and quantitative skills; ability to use hard data and metrics to back up assumptions, recommendations, and drive actions 
* Strengths in problem solving, issue-resolution, ability to work in a deadline-driven work environment, attention to detail, and ability to multitask 
* Ability to work cross-functionally across many internal teams 
* Prior experience in Digital Signage, DOOH is preferred

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: Design Implementation, digital signage, Document Solution, Dynamic Team, Functional Relationships, Functional Team, Future Market, Managing A Team, New Product Introduction, Present Technology, Product Compliance, Product Managers, Program Metrics, Proven Track Record, Relevant Standards, Roadmap Plans, Signage Industry, Signage Solution, Solution Requirements, Target

Sherwood Ridge Public School opened its doors to students for the first time on 28 January 2004. At this time the school had 8 mainstream classes between Kindergarten and Year 6 and 2 support classes.

The founding Principal of Sherwood Ridge is Mrs Jan Marshall.

In the weeks following the school’s inception, students, parents and teachers came together to give birth to: four sporting houses – Air, Fire, Earth and Water; three core values – community, respect and learning; and the school motto “From Each Their Best”.

Requirements

The requirements for this project was quite straight forward and these were:

• Installation of 50” commercial grade screen in the Administration foyer
• A digital signage player to display a range of content types including images, videos and text
• The installation and configuration of  the screen, bracket, cabling and digital signage player
• Audio Speakers in the Administration foyer
• Initial template creation
• Onsite Training
• Technical Support

The Solution

The solution we provided the school consisted of the following:

• Dell PC with dual VGA output
• PADS Digital Signage Software
• Panasonic 50″ Plasma screen
• Venturi wall bracket
• 2-Port USB KVM to control two PC’s by using the same keyboard, mouse  and monitor
• Logitec Speakers
• VGA extension cable

We provided the school with a standalone solution that enabled them to use the same PC to control, schedule and display the content and at the same time share the keyboard,mouse and monitor. Since the PC had two VGA outputs, one was connected to the local screen (used for managing and scheduling content) and the extended second output to the Panasonic screen (display the content). This setup is quite complex because the video configuration of the second output was setup as an  extended screen. This meant that the PADS Viewer (a component of the PADS software) which displays content had to automatically launch on this extended screen. How did we do this? It was simple, the PADS application allows you to enter the X and Y co-ordinates of where the viewer will be launched. Here’s an example, the horizontal position of the viewer screen is 1440 (since the horizontal size of the primary screen is 1440) :

As a result, the digital signage solution was used as a tool to communicate messages with kids, teachers and parents through images and information. Below is a few pictures of the install:

Digital Signage in the Education sector in Australia is now becoming more popular and more affordable so why not talk to us so we can show you how you can achieve your digital signage goals.

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Post tags: 28 January, Air Fire, Audio Speakers, Community Respect, Content Types, Core Values, Dell Pc, digital signage, digital signage player, Digital Signage Software, Digital Speakers, Doors, High Schools, Inception, Initial Template, Jan Marshall, Keyboard Mouse, Kindergarten, Logitec Speakers, Mainstream Classes, Pads Software, Panasonic 50 Plasma, Parents And Teachers, plasma screen, School Motto, Sherwood, Sherwood Ridge, Signage Project, Signage Solution, Software Panasonic, Sporting Houses, Standalone Solution, Technical Support, Template Creation, Video Configuration, Year 6

Below are the specs from Panasonic’s website:

Key Benefits:

Embedded Design

The PC integrates seamlessly into a Panasonic professional plasma.
It minimises the need for cabling, making installation easier, removing the
need for a separate PC or an extra air conditioning unit to keep it cool.

Control

Change the way you communicate to staff and customers. Enjoy the flexibility of updating your content in real time, when you want it, where you want it and as often as required.

Power

A single power source ensures that no additional power is required.
With an ultra low voltage chip of 15 watts, energy usage is lower than a light bulb.

Reliable

Based on an industrial grade PC platform, the system is stable and reliable for uninterrupted playback of multimedia content.

Speed

Unlike traditional forms of signage such as billboards and point-of-sale posters, the digital signage solution allows dynamic and rich content, ensuring fast transfer of information via the screens.

Scalable distribution

The application is scalable from one screen to thousands of screens nationwide, networked via wireless, WAN, LAN or satellite distribution.

Low Noise

Low noise operation makes Panasonic professional plasmas suitable for hospitals, hotels, libraries and museums.

Embedded PC: ETX1312C1000

• 1GHz ULV Intel Pentium Celeron Processor
• Dimension: 203 (W) x 32(H) x 125 (D)mm 2-Slot Size
• Supports LVDS and CRT Interface
• Supports both Landscape and Portrait Display Mode
• 512 MB DDR SO-DIMM
• 2.5″ 40GB HDD & Compact Flash Interface
• 10/100 Base-T LAN x 1
• Max. 15W Power Consumption Intel 82855GME/ICH4 Chipset
• OS: Windows XP or XP Embedded or Linux (optional)
• 4x USB 2.0 Ports (2 Connectors @ Terminal & 2 Headers on Board)

Interface: (2x USB2.0, 1x COM (RS232), 1x LAN (RJ45 w/ Status LED),
3x Audio Jack Connectors for Line Out, Line-in & Mic)

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Post tags: Additional Power, Billboards, Board Interface, Celeron Processor, Crt Interface, Current Unit, digital signage, Energy Usage, Flash Interface, Intel Pentium Celeron, Libraries And Museums, Light Bulb, Low Noise, Low Voltage, Multimedia Content, Noise Operation, Panasonic Plasma Screens, Panasonic Product, Pc Platform, power consumption, Power Source, Rich Content, Satellite Distribution, Signage Solution, Slot Size, Uninterrupted Playback, Wan Lan, Watts Energy, Wireless Wan

The South Western Sydney Clinical School (SWSCS) was established in 1990 and it is unique to the UNSW city clinical schools in that it embraces multiple campuses, allowing access to a broad and diverse range of health care services delivered to a large (approximately 800,000 people) and diverse population.

The SWSCS is centered at Liverpool Hospital (600 beds), a principal tertiary referral hospital for the South Western Sydney Area Health Service (SWSAHS). An active teaching and research programme is also run at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital (400 beds; the second principal referral hospital in SWSAHS) and at Campbelltown and Fairfield Hospitals, as well as a number of other facilities.

Requirements

The requirements for this digital signage project were:

• The large screens needed to be in portrait rather than landscape
• Screen needed to be mounted against the wall
• Display different content including websites, timetable, presentations, images, RSS uni news etc.
• Needs to be scalable and flexible
• A dedicated CMS server hosted at the main Hospital Campus
• Players needed to be embedded in the screen since there was no space to store these

The Solution

The solution we provided the University consisted of the following:

• CMS Dell Server
• PADS Digital Signage Software
• Panasonic Screens with embedded players
• Adtec wall bracket

As usual we worked with local staff and the IT network engineers to connect the players to the UNSW network. We’ve got more screens and players to install but for now have a look at the some of the below photos

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Post tags: Area Health Service, Campbelltown, Cms Server, Dell Server, digital signage, Digital Signage Software, Health Care Services, Hospitals, Lidcombe Hospital, Liverpool Hospital, Network Engineers, New South Wales, Referral Hospital, Signage Project, Signage Solution, Slideshow, Software Panasonic, South Western Sydney, South Western Sydney Area Health, South Western Sydney Area Health Service, Sydney Area Health Service, Tertiary Referral, University Of New South Wales, Unsw, Western Sydney Area Health, Western Sydney Area Health Service

I would be very interested to see how the inside of the kiosk looks like. My guess is that these systems are centrally managed by a content management server at head office and whenever there’s a new release the server pushed this out to each of the kiosks. The kiosk probably has an internet connection and a DVD burner which burns the movies onto the DVD. It might even have a DVD printer to print the covers. This is a quite interesting and innovative kiosk and digital signage solution.

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Post tags: Content Management Server, Credit Card, Digital Id, Digital Movies, digital signage, Dvd Movies, Guess, Internet Connection, Kiosk, kiosks, Klips, Late Fees, New Release, Petrol Station, Renting, Signage Solution, touch screen

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!!!

The unit was a 42″ LCD with an internal digital signage player that hangs outside the main restaurant window. It catches the attention of any person that walks by – obviously the main reason for installing digital signage. The system is controlled via a remote control – once again very simple to use. If you’ve used a DVD remote control before, then this one is just as easy.

Since the restaurant only opens for dinner, the screen looks amazing at night. The images of several mouth watering dishes are continuously displayed in a loop with random transition effects. Have a look at some of the photos we took:

Do you want to …

• have your food speak for itself
• increase the number of orders
• provide more than just food with ease and convenience
• enhance your customer’s dining experience without the expensive price tag?

If the answer to any of these is YES then advertise me we can build you a digital signage solution that is superior to anything currently on the market.

Whether you are a take away store or a fine dining restaurant, we can build you a digital signage solution that is superior to anything currently on the market.

With Advertise Me you can:

• present visual images of dishes of the day
• replace or enhance menus such as the blackboard specials
• provide subtle entertainment and information
• help make events and functions more memorable with slideshows, music, music clips or showing video messages

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Post tags: australia, Cf Card, Convenience, Cost Effective Solution, digital signage, digital signage player, Dishes, Fine Dining Restaurant, Imagebrowser, Images, Mouth Watering, Price Tag, Random Transition, Randwick, Reason, Remote Control, Signage Solution, Store Owner, Synchronisation, Thai Restaurant, Thai Riffic, Transition Effects, Usb Dongle, Usb Port, Value Added, Visual Images

I really haven’t seen it in action so the above is just a guess based on what I saw. Has anyone else seen any innovative kiosk or digital signage solutions?

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Post tags: Business Hours, Canberra Australia, Cleaning Business, Clothes, Convenience, Digital Id, Digital Signage Solutions, Digital Solutions, Dry Cleaners, Dry Cleaning, Hanger, Kiosk, Receipt Number, Shaft, Signage Solution, touch screen

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Post tags: Clients Requirements, Cost Effective Solution, digital signage network, digital signage player, Good Time, Retail Chain, Retail Digital Signage, Retail Industry, Retail Signage, Retail Store, retail stores, Signage Products, Signage Solution, Signage System, Single Store

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Post tags: Business Signage, Business Solution, Clients Requirements, Digital Proof, digital signage, Happy Customer, Hardware Software, Period Of Time, Professional Services, Proof Of Concept, Select Products, Signage Industry, Signage Solution, Solution Provider

After all digital signage is a communication tool and what better way to communicate with each other by using Skype. Here’s an example of what needs to be done and can be achieved:

1. Install a digital touch screen at a booth (maybe at a busy shopping centre)

2. Install the advertise me digital signage solution

3. Design the relevant templates and content

4. Install a web cam and connect this to your digital signage solution

5. Install the skype application

6. Install an internet connection

7. Develop the digital signage application which lists companies customer call centres

How to use it?

8. You look for Advertise Me (for example) in the directory list because you want to speak to a sales representative about a product you are about to purchase

9. You touch the “call Advertise Me” button and the system starts establishing a skype session to Advertise Me

10. A representative at Advertise Me receives the call and you have a video conference and start chatting away about the products. The Advertise Me representative may even show you how the product can be used etc and directs you to the nearest retail store.

11. Once you end the session, the digital signage application plays relevant content (product info, sales, discounts) from company you just dialed. Or this can also be displayed during the video call.

12. After a certain idle period of time, the digital signage application defaults back to a playlist displaying ads etc.

So there you go, that’s an idea I just came up with. Maybe if we have time we can actually make this happen, or if you want it straight away we can make this happen for you.Obviously we’ll need to get permission from Skype but I’m sure they too would want this to happen as well.

What do you think about this idea?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

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Post tags: Application Defaults, Call Centres, Communication Tool, Computer Application, Content Product, Digital Communication, digital signage, Integrating Digital, Internet Connection, Period Of Time, playlist, Plays, Retail Store, Sales Representative, Shopping Centre, Signage Design, Signage Solution, Skype, Templates, touch screen, Video Call, Video Conference, Web Cam

Enclosures are primarily designed to protect the display screens from:

• the environment – direct sunlight or extreme weather can cause damage to the screen
• theft – fortunately we haven’t come across this situation but I’m sure others around the world have experience this
• physical damage – vandalism is quite common in public areas

In addition to protecting screens, enclosures are also used to protect digital signage players – so make sure there is enough room to house the player.

We’ve seen different types of enclosures ranging from free standing to wall mounted and here’s a few photos:

One thing that I’ve learnt is that if someone really wanted to steal something, no matter how secure it is they will find a way to take it but “prevention is always better than cure”.

Have you seen any innovative or strange enclosures?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

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Post tags: digital signage, Extreme Weather, Investment, Photos, Physical Security, Prevention, Public Areas, screens, Secure Digital, Security Considerations, Shopping Centre, Signage Installation, Signage Solution, Strange, Sunlight, Vandalism

But what’s interesting is that they at least had a backup plan – ie. static posters.

So, what do you do when your screen fails?

We previously talked about this in another post called “Why Digital Signage Can Work Against You”

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2009. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Backup Plan, digital signage, posters, Signage Solution

One of our clients requested a feature to a digital signage software component which wasn’t that much of an issue except we required the services of the digital signage software company and there was a cost associated with this feature (the client was happy to pay for this). But all this came with  a little  unanticipated catch – the client was required to upgrade to the latest version of the software before the modification patch would work. Many of us might be thinking,  “That’s easy, there’s no harm in doings so as the latest patch will resolve and fix previous bugs”…. Ummmmmm…. WRONG!!!

By upgrading the software we found quite a number of bugs and spend quite a number of hours investigating and then reporting the issue to the manufacturer whilst the client had to workaround the problem. Fortunately, we provided the client with a test environment and didn’t upgrade the development system with the latest software.

I’m not sure whether many of you have experienced this but upgrading to the latest version can actually introduce new bugs. What’s worse is that a considerable amount of time can be spent investigating the issue and the  time for this may not be chargeable – who do you charge for this type of work…. the client who has already paid for a working solution ? or the digital signage company who supplied the dodgy software?

This is a tough one and I’ll like to hear from anyone who has been through this experience.

So there are a few lessons that I have learnt from this:

1. ALWAYS make sure you test the upgrade or software patch on a test unit or environment

2. ALWAYS back up your content or system before applying any patches as you’ll  never know the state of the unit after the reboot

3. PLAN for any changes you make to the system and carefully provide detailed rollback plans in the event the change failed

4. TRUST and have some faith that the developers have done their testing but acknowledge that they cannot test all the different scenarios

5. Make sure you charge someone for your work or include this as part of your Maintenance and Support costs… or even better get the manufacturer to conduct intensive testing with your configuration before applying any patches or upgrades

6. IF IT’S NOT BROKEN LEAVE IT AS IT IS… sometimes making a simple change can break the entire system… but if you’ve done the above point 2 & 3 correctly then this shouldn’t be an issue.

Have you been in this situation? Tell us what you think.

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2009. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Amount Of Time, Best Interest, Bugs, Client Request, Developers, digital signage, Digital Signage Software, Dilemma, Doings, environment, Faith, Job, Latest Software, Patches, Rollback, Scenarios, Signage Company, Signage Solution, Software Company, Software Component, Software Patch, Solution Provider, System Software, Test Environment, Test Software, Test Unit, Uni, Working Solution

	1. Viigo – this is a RSS reader application with a nice intuitive interface. I use it to read most blog entries related to digital signage (and of course I’ve added the http://www.digitalsignageblog.com/feed to the list… don’t forget to do that as well). You can download Viigo from the Application Center on the blackberry or you can download it from here: www.viigo.com
	2. WordPress for blackberry – I use this to type some of the digital signage blog entries whilst on the go. I found it a bit hard to navigate on the Blackberry Storm (it was not designed for the touchscreen and surepress technology) but it does the job. You can download wordpress for blackberry here http://blackberry.wordpress.org/
	3. Nav4All – this is an awesome application that is basically like the navman but free…well until 1-1-2010. It is a mobile phone navigation application which gives you turn by turn instructions. I use this when I have to travel to unfamiliar locations for meetings etc. The website has a whole list of mobile phones that it supports so head over there now to download it. http://www.nav4all.com
	4. GPSed – this is an application that maps your tracks and photos. I use it for both tracking when I go running and also for tracking locations where I saw digital signage solution installs. Great little application and it’s free. http://www.gpsed.com/
	5. BBFileScout – a file browser for the blackberry. There are times whereby I have to send files and photos to our clients so this is a perfect solution for browsing files. You can download the application from here. http://www.emacberry.com/bbfilescout.html
	6. Twitterberry – the twitter application for the blackberry. We use this to update our twitter status http://www.twitter.com/advertisemeAU I also find it hard to navigate using this application as it wasn’t designed for the Blackberry Storm. You can download this application from here: http://orangatame.com/products/twitterberry/
	7. Core applications – Finally, there’s the built in apps like Youtube, the camera, emails, browser etc that we use and there’s always Facebook – I don’t think anyone can resist from installing this application if they have a facebook account.

There may be others which I haven’t used before. Let me know if there’s any other application which I should use for my digital signage work.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2009. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Application Center, Awesome Application, Blackberry Applications, Core Applications, digital signage, File Browser, Free Applications, Intuitive Interface, Maps, Mobile Phone, mobile phones, Nav4all, Navigation Application, Perfect Solution, Photos, Reader Application, Reading Emails, Rss Reader, Signage Solution, Stat, Touchscreen, Travel, twitter, Viigo, Wordpress

On the weekend whilst walking past a busy street I spotted across the road a real estate company with several LCD screens located at their front window. This is what I saw: (excuse the quality of the pictures but it was late at night and I was using my blackberry):

Now, in Australia quite a number of real estate agencies have moved away from using the traditional static posters for displaying their property listing and have implemented some form of a digital signage solution (visual display screens or touchscreen technology).

What I was most surprised about this particular installation and setup was that 1/3 of their screens was either turned off or had a fault with the LCD unit. Does this mean that 1/3 of the properties were not displayed? How would the property owner feel knowing that they are potentially losing interested buyers.

So what I have learnt from this situation is the following:

1. If there’s a hardware fault fix it immediately

2. Always have a backup plan – don’t be afraid to revert back to the old method of using traditional posters when required

3. Use a mixture of digital signage solutions and traditional posters

4. It looks unprofessional and embarrassing for both the digital signage solution provider and owner if the solution fails

5. You will definately lose customers if the problem is not rectified in a timely manner

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2009. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: australia, Backup Plan, blackberry, Busy Street, Digital Posters, digital signage, Digital Signage Solutions, Excuse, Hardware Fault, Interested Buyers, lcd screens, Lcd Unit, Mixture, Property Owner, Real Estate Agencies, Real Estate Company, Screen Caption, Signage Solution, Solution Provider, Timely Manner, traditional posters

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2009. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Advertisement, Airport Terminal 2, digital signage, Fun, Poll Id, Signage Solution, Taiwan, Taoyuan Airport, Video Poll

What is the most effective digital signage solution you’ve ever seen?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments |
Post tags: digital signage, Signage Solution

We recently posted in our forum what people wanted to see in our newsletter and one of our digital signage portal members suggested we should discuss about issues installers face during digital signage rollouts. So thanks to Jon for your feedback, we always value everyones feedback but more importantly we take action!

Lets quickly summarise some of these issues and recommendations:

Physical Security – we have talked about this in the past in one of our blog entries titled Does your digital signage solution pass our security checklist? point number 7 – If you can’t recall what was discussed you can read the article and refresh your memory. Just make sure you physically lock your monitors to prevent thieves from stealing the units.

Use smaller pipes/brackets for monitors -Jon advises the following: “when hanging monitors from ceiling joints, that some companies are using very heavy pipes to hold the monitors. The monitors are getting lighter and lighter and a pipe that is heavier than the monitor is not necessary. Cutting back the size/weight of the pipes can still hold the monitors, reduce costs for shipping and cutting them to length is much easier as well”.

Use pre made Cat5E cables – it makes it easier for installers. “That way you can just connect to the box in the ceiling and to the back of the monitor instead of having one long cable that runs from the PC or rack straight to the monitor. This also helps with replacement of cables, so you don’t have to run an entirely new cable, just replace the bad one and drop it thru the pipe.”

Be green – try to help the environment and try to use equipment that does not need power. For example, there are several Video extenders in the market that do not require power. Some are hard to find but let us know if you run into trouble.

Backup plans – always have a backup plan and NEVER rely on just 1 single supplier. Make sure you have a backup plan for everything, otherwise if you hit a wall during your installation you will still be able to get the job done.

Costings – From jon’s professional experience: “One of the cost saving measures I use for my clients is flat rate billing. It includes travel, time on the job and materials used. There is a little more cost if there is a concrete ceiling as opposed to a tiled or drop ceiling. This way everyone involved knows the costs up front and there are no suprises on the back end for the client” Once again Jon, thanks for your tips. We have created a forum thread on the digital signage portal forum, so that you can all discuss this further. Click here to continue the discussion.

To read past newsletters click here.

Want to automatically receive the newsletters? Join the digital signage portal.

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2009. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: Brackets, Cables, Ceiling Joints, digital signage, Face, Lame Excuse, members, Memory, Monitors, newsletter, Physical Security, Pipes, portal, Quotes, Rollouts, Security Checklist, Signage Solution, Thieves

“It wants to increase licensing fees in a 120-seat restaurant to $19,344 a year — up from $125. Small cafes would be slugged with a 4729 per cent yearly increase from $124 to $5860.”

Source: http://techdirt.com/articles/20090615/0329305236.shtml

For those digital signage businesses who provide their clients with a digital signage solution that plays music in the background, have you considered what legal implications are involved and what the licensing requirements are? Even if your client has paid for the music clips or videos!

In Australia, retail stores that play music – whether from the radio, purchased CDs, computers, digital signage are required to pay a licensing fee otherwise it may be considered breaching copyright laws and eventually be fined thousands of dollars.

Now we all know that music can set the mood and atmosphere in your store, nightclub, restaurant or cafe but did you know that you may have to pay a licensing fee for playing music in your business environment or anywhere in public areas? Basically, if you play music in your store you need to have a PPCA public performance license to play protected sound recordings and an APRA public performance license to play musical and literary works. For more information about this visit https://transactions.business.gov.au/BLIS/musiclicence.aspx

All I can say is, just make sure that if you’re running a business or if you’re installing a digital signage solution with audio for one of your clients make sure you mention these licencing requirements to your client otherwise they (or possibly your business) may end up paying a hefty fine – so don’t risk it.

After thinking about this situation, do you believe a license is required for playing videos of unsigned artists playing original songs from Youtube in your store or business environment?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but my understanding is that because these artists are unsigned (i.e don’t have a label) the PPCA, or APRA won’t be paying them one cent so why should you pay for the license fee if all you’re playing is songs from these unsigned artists. For example, here’s one of my favourite Youtube R&B groups called LEGACI playing an original song. Keep it up boys.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments |
Post tags: australia, Blis, Business Environment, Business Environments, Cafes, Cds Computers, Copyright Laws, digital signage, Exact Figures, Legal Implications, Licence Costs, Licencing Requirements, Licensing Fee, Licensing Requirements, Music Background, Music Business, Music Cds, music clips, Music Radio, Music Retail, Music Videos, Performance License, Play Music, Playing Music, Public Areas, Public Performance, Retail Environment, retail stores, Running A Business, Seat Restaurant, Shtml, Signage Solution, Sound Recordings, Techdirt, Thousands Of Dollars, Truth, Unsigned Artists, Youtube

In the past two months advertise me has been busy providing the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) with an innovative digital signage solution for their new concept shop in Westfield’s Bondi Junction.

The new ABC shop opened its doors on 15 May 2009 with a fresh new look but more importantly it introduced digital signage.

The three main reasons for introducing digital signage to the ABC shop were:

1. to draw additional customers into the store;
2. to increase overall sales; and
3. to showcase some of the other broadcasting services that the ABC provides e.g. ABC news, ABC TV, ABC radio and the ABC website.

Advertise Me understood the significance of what the ABC wanted to achieve and ensured that the digital signage solution that we provided was not only able to meet the requirements of the ABC but could also be easily adapted to other ABC shops.

The Digital Signage Solution

From a visual perspective this is what the Advertise Me’s digital signage solution looks like:

But to really understand how the digital signage solution was tailored to the ABC requirements is to understand the audio and content challenges faced in the integration of digital signage with ABC’s audio and visual equipment. This is because providing a digital signage solution is more than just connecting a PC to a display screen.

The Audio Challenge

The ABC required that the digital signage solution enable it to switch audio between songs, store announcements, advertisements, ABC radio and audio from live ABC news.

This meant that the Advertise Me’s audio solution would require the overhead speaker system to be connected to an audio switching tool that allowed the switching between the CD player, the digital signage player and the set top box.

The result was a digital signage solution that ensured that live ABC news, product videos, advertisements, announcements, music and much more was heard in the ABC shop.

The Content Challenge

The ABC required that the digital signage solution to easily manage content from one central location.

This meant that the Advertise Me’s content solution would require a dedicated Content Management Server to house the content and playlists.

The result was a digital signage solution that ensured that all content scheduling was performed at ABC’s head office with the use of a PC software tool to schedule the playlists in a calendar view so that staff could easily manage the content. The digital signage solution also ensured the ability to display live ABC TV, in store advertisements, RSS news and products by using zoning.

In addition, the digital signage solution enabled the ABC marketing staff to update content, schedule items to display on the screens and manage the overall solution from one central location without having to physically be onsite.

Results

Advertise Me’s digital signage solution met the ABC’s technical requirements and has already resulted in an increase in the number of customers walking into the store and an increase in overall sales.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: Abc News, Abc Radio, Abc Shop, Abc Shops, Abc Tv, Advertisements, Audio Solution, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Bondi Junction, Broadcasting Services, digital signage, New Abc, News Abc, Overhead Speaker, Signage Solution, Speaker System, Store Announcements, Ticketer, Visual Perspective, Westfield