Most digital signage players on the current market will support the ability to import or use RSS feeds to display dynamic content. If you don’t know what RSS is and the copyright laws governing its use then keep reading.

What is RSS?

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is used mainly for syndicating (updating) content on websites and readers. In digital signage, RSS can be used to dynamically grab information such as news, weather, stocks and any content on a website that supports RSS and display this on the screens. Normally, the RSS feeds are in XML format so they can be easily read by most RSS readers or XML compatible applications.

Copyright issues?

As digital signage players makes it easier for us to add RSS feeds, have you really stopped for a second and checked whether you are allowed to use the feed. For example, quite a number of news websites provide its readers with the option to feed content so they are able to receive the latest news information via their RSS reader. So for a digital signage network this is great feature to have as you will be able to entertain your viewers with dynamic information. Now here’s the complication, if you used the feed without obtaining approval from the content owner then you are most likely breaching copyright laws. If you carefully read the fine print on most websites you’ll notice that the feed can only be used for personal and non-commercial purposes. Are you getting worried now? This goes with many online websites such a this one. As a rule of thumb, it is always best to contact the website owner and obtain their approval to use the RSS feed even if there are no terms and conditions.

This blog receives over 100 rss requests per day so hopefully no one is re distributing this content without properly referencing the source.

So the next time you add an rss feed as part of your digital signage solution make sure you read the fine print.

Now if you need help in sourcing a news feed or any other RSS feed contact us and we’ll be more than happy to help.

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Do you use rss in your digital signage solution? If you answered yes, fell free to let us know what you use rss for by adding a comment.

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

Category: Digital Signage Blog Info, Digital Signage Blog News, Digital Signage Polls

It has been almost over a year since we had the intention of buying the domain name http://www.advertiseme.tv and we finally got it.

If I recall correctly, sometime last year we started receving promotional material about the availability of the .tv domains, so we did a search for advertiseme.tv and the domain name was available. We decided that we should include an agenda item in the next team meeting so that we could discuss whether to buy this domain name or not and determine how we were going to use this domain name.

During the meeting we all decided that it would be beneficial for us to have this domain name so we decided to purchase it but within a week someone else ended up buying that domain name. We were quite dissapointed and somehow I had this subconscious feeling that the domain search records for domain names were being tracked – big brother was watching.

But this year luck was on our side, the domain name expired and without hesitation we ended up purchasing this domain.  We intend to use this domain name for our digital signage online TV channel and potentially use it for syndicating content. This basically means that we want to enhance our clients digital signage signs by having more content available e.g. news, trivia, music clips, sports, stocks, weather and anything that people might be interested in watching.

We will hopefully launch our online services in 2009… so watch this space.

If you’re a content provider and would like to add your content or services to our porfolio just send us an email to info@advertiseme.tv

Have you ever let your domain name expire and regretted it?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

Category: Digital Signage Blog Info, Digital Signage Blog News