July 1st saw many smokers crying in their beer and fighting cravings for a cigarette. Not in this pub - one of the many that adopted an outdoor screen.
And yes, there are people smoking - outdoors, enjoying a few beers and watching the TV.
A dedicated team of senior officers from London Fire Brigade has been involved in developing the command support vehicle project. Having developed an advanced specification, the team drew up and tested designs for the vehicle’s internal layout and the technology suite with which it would be equipped. Strong emphasis was placed on providing sufficient space for collaborative working in a multi-agency environment, both inside the vehicle using a plasma touch screen and using a side-mounted, plasma touch screen on the outside of the vehicle. Tablet PCs, wifi and other technologies will also be used to distribute essential command information to headquarters, incident, operations and sector commanders through mapping, graphics, live imagery and organisational charts.In a crisis, the right decision needs to be made quickly. At the core of this is effective communication, particularly in the middle of a major incident. Whilst software delivers the essential communcation tools, it will only work with a stable network and hardware infrastructure designed to cope with the demands placed upon it by the software and it's users.
Big is beautiful, right? Well, according to some sources, small is the new big. Signage needn't always be about how big you can go (bearing in mind we're currently working on an installation for three, 100" window projection systems). When you listen hard, sometimes you might just hear what's really needed.
I'm currently developing a display stand that incorporates digital signage, without losing the punch and appeal of the technology.
There are a number of ways to approach the problem, again depending on the client requirement: is a full signage software solution required? Or just a simple device that is network independent and can feed content from flash media or a USB pen-drive?
How about either? Watch this space.
For the second year running, TECknowledge is proud to support the Summer Show at HMS Sultan near Gosport, Hampshire on the weekend of the 23rd and 24th of June.
It's a traditional summer family event with motor cycle, helicopter and parachute display teams, a circus and lots more besides. We're cramming a heap of technology in to a 12m x 12m tent and having some fun for the weekend. Bring the family along and come and see us - we'd love to see you!
Amongst the technologies, we'll be showing the latest in Full HD Projection and Plasma and LCD flat screens (even weatherproof ones), home cinema, the latest in gaming, D-Link's MediaLounge, and even football and teddy-bear televisions (yes, really).
And if you can't make it, keep an eye on this blog for a full report.
Recently, we were engaged by a business seeking to improve internal communication and motivate some 80 staff in a large, open office space.
Software applications were already in place to manage work-flow and reporting was relatively easy for management to obtain on demand. However, staff weren't always aware of how the rest of their team were performing., let alone the performance of the wider company. Often, this took the form of meetings which took the resource away from it's core objectives.
The solution? A software tool that analyses data in their database in real-time, configured around a set of performance indicators configured to suit.
So how to communicate those stats to staff? Connect in a server to drive the software and to output the resulting dashboard to a display screen: that's where TECknowledge comes in.
Our solution used a number of LCD flat screens to make the information available to all staff on the sales floor. There's an issue here though: you can only reliably run a VGA cable around 15 metres (depending on who you ask!). To overcome this, we proposed the use of VGA extenders, converting audio and video output from a single source to present content on a number of different screens, making use of existing CAT-5 cabling to carry the data before converting it back for screen connection without any degradation of quality of signal.
Peer pressure is an especially powerful force because it is so subtle.Jim Rohn
I've been waiting a while for a product like this. In keeping with the convergence occurring across the IT and AV industries, a number of manufacturers have grasped the nettle and created technology that will enable you to enjoy on your TV and hi-fi, media more often now stored as MP3 or AVI files on the PCs around your home.
It was inevitable wasn't it? Tracks topping the charts on downloads alone proves that downloading is the medium of choice for the market. That being the case, surely you'd want to play those same files through the hifi system you've spent a decent amount of cash on?
Apple has it's Apple TV product, and D-Link has created the DSM-520 Media Lounge (there are others, too). Unlike Apple TV, the 520 doesn't store any media on the device itself, merely streaming content from the devices already present on your network.
The feature I found most enjoyable though, surprisingly, were the photo functions: using the 520, I played an MP3 album and navigated off to the photos stored on my PC and had the unit play a slideshow. In an unlikely way, the convenience of digital photography also means that most of the holiday snaps and kids' birthday memories are buried out of sight in a directory on the PC somewhere and rarely see the light of day: this unit brought them to life, much like having a 43" digital photo frame in my lounge.
Overall, it delivers what it set's out to and is only let down a little by the user interface which is functional rather than pretty. I expected to see album artwork and thumbnails of pictures and video instead of just a pageable list: I could just imagine the trauma of an extremely large music or movie collection even with the search function. Perhaps that's expecting just a little too much?
A local sports club needed to improve the television experience offered to its members.
Core Objective: Quality. It is important to deliver a solution that is compliant with the business objectives: in this case a venue that prides itself on quality.
Pioneer represented the most aesthetically pleasing plasma unit coupled with a commercial, on-site warranty, but needed something a little extra with audio.
Speakers on plasma screens just aren't made to project sound in large spaces, let alone large spaces full of members having a few beers. To address this, our solution included an amplifier, and good quality KEF speakers that could be flush-mounted in the ceiling. Four of these were used to cover a larger area of the bar, rather than project using a single pair.
So why not buy a cheaper consumer plasma? For a screen to be running in excess of 12 hours each day, seven days per week, it is important to choose a screen that is built for the job. Couple that with an on-site warranty that means the client won't suffer the embarrassment of being without a screen for weeks on end in the event of a failure, a consumer plasma really is out of the question.
The topic du jour in the leisure and hospitality space is currently the smoking ban, coming in to effect on 1st July 2007: many people in the sector are either turkeys, running around, manically achieving nothing and bemoaning the new legislation, whilst the ostriches are sticking their heads in the sand, blindly hoping that the problem will go away.
The smart ones, however, seize the opportunity to compete to set themselves apart from their competitors. They embrace the changes and create a competitive advantage through innovation.
They're already showing Sky Sports in the bar and they have a garden where people can smoke after July 1st. Why not combine the two? The visionaries are adding a pagoda outside, and patio heaters - why not a screen too?
Flatscreen technology has evolved. We're now installing outdoor, ingress-protected screens that are completely weatherproof, coupled with weatherproof speakers. The screens have a hard coating to protect against accidental damage and a secure mounting to prevent theft. For peace of mind, an insurance product is available too.
Those that really get it are installing now. As one said,
"I'm not waiting until the start of the football season. I want customers to be coming in all summer, knowing I've got an outdoor screen so that when the football season starts, they'll be back".Wise words indeed. Otherwise, you missed your opportunity, your profit is being drunk at the pub down the road that saw an opportunity and grabbed it with both hands.
Not guilty on all counts.
The MediaStar range creates a versatile set of kit to distribute a number of video sources to any number of screens, and even control the boxes remotely; hell, this is so simple, you could use it at home, and many do.
The system dispenses with the defacto, ageing coaxial cabled solution that is fast becoming extinct as viewers demand better quality images and audio. It uses CAT5 cabling (or upward if you'd prefer).
Don't panic: this isn't IPTV. It's not going to take up huge amounts of bandwidth on your precious IP network. It merely uses CAT5 as a medium to carry the content.
This, of course, is another manifestation of the convergence taking place in the IT and AV spaces. It takes a different kind of knowledge and experience than a typical AV install.
And whilst we're talking about convergence, this handles any video source: you could even integrate CCTV cameras in to it, and see the images on any screen, screens that might include the PCs on your network, for example.
I know the question you're asking yourself. There's too much of a buzz around it to not be thinking, 'what about HD?'. Well, the standard install doesn't cater for it, but there is a product that will distribute HD, and this is IPTV. It will convert video and audio content to data, distribute it across your LAN, convert it back and present it on the screen in all it's glory. The question here is, is your LAN man enough for the job?
It's a great delivery medium that produces good quality, distributed video and is scalable. What more could you need?
I learned recently that even within a manufacturer's product range, consumer units differ vastly to commercial units. Yes, really. Even to the point, I was surprised to learn, that they use different technologies to support greater use, reliability and life expectancy. It's a totally different unit in many cases.
The difficulty is, there are to many companies on the web 'shifting tin'. Buying a box, adding a 4% margin, and don't actually have a clue what they are selling. And usually, the customer doesn't really understand what they are buying either. It's a transaction that in many cases can never end in happiness. The customer expects champagne service for beer money, and the vendor either can't afford to give it, or is just not interested in providing it.
It is common for manufacturers to specifically exclude commercial use of their consumer plasma and LCD panels from the warranty. That cheap unit from boxshifters.com falls over after three months, and you're going to have a fight on your hands to get it repaired or replaced, let alone as quick as you'd expect. And all that time, you've got a blank screen in your reception or in your bar - how does that make your business look?
If you're going to do it, do it right. You'll pay a bit more, but the increase in value is significant. I've heard far too many horror stories in far too short a period of time to recommend anything else.
I have always been a big fan of 'pressing the flesh' and face to face meetings with customers, but always get frustrated with car travel in particular; it always feels like 'dead time' when I could be doing something else. My time is such a precious commodity these days.
The range of product is good, with integration across its breadth, allowing implementation across a group to accommodate up to eight screens in a Head Office boardroom, for example, and then midrange meeting room systems in satellite offices and right down to desktop systems for remote workers.
Sony has done its homework and come a long way in a few short years. The most impressive part for me though, as ever, is the people part. Sony get it. And the product specialists really know their stuff, inspiring confidence in the product range, but more importantly in the after-sales support.
I particularly liked the integration of computer based outputs; 'death by PowerPoint' is still a very real possibility, unfortunately. Sony's IP CCTV range can also be integrated in to the network too, which presents some good opportunities for corporate and the SME.
So what do you really want from Video Conferencing? Arrive in your meeting room, power it up, make the call(s), have your meeting and then leave. With the right configuration, Sony's kit makes this a reality; if you can use a phone and a PC, then this is a doddle.
Is Video Conferencing an alternative to 'pressing the flesh' and meeting new clients in their own environment? No. But as a viable proposition for internal meetings and those project meetings with existing clients, it's a no-brainer and very easy to justify a business case for it.
Technology has come a long way. Evolution isn't stopping any time soon. In a number of locations around Portsmouth and beyond, we've recently implemented Window Projection systems under the umbrella of our TECvision brand.
From chocolate shops to theatres to telephone retail to estate agents, the sites have a few things in common; a pioneering spirit coupled with the recognition that, in any market, a competitive advantage is well worth the investment. Oh, and a great location helps too.
Isn't it amazing. You go through life in a bubble, plodding along, doing your thing and something comes along and rocks your world.
I've recently begun working with TECknowledge, attracted by the freedom to work the way I wanted to work, and to work with people whose skills and experience I trust and who have a passion for technology equal to, or greater than my own.
And doing business the right way is core. Too many businesses do to many things the wrong way with technology. The last few years of Internet culture have bred a environment filled with miss-set expectations followed by disappointment and disillusionment after buying a product that didn't fulfil our dreams.
It's not free, but the consulting we provide as a group is incredibly valuable. If you want to buy a box and its consequences, go ahead. Worse still, we'll work with you to create a solution using knowledge and experience that we've built over many years, and then you'll go and buy it from the cheapest place you can. We'll get nothing for the time we invested, and when something goes wrong, we won't be able to help.
However, if you're one of a growing number of businesses that are sick of the box-shift culture, and need a partner to understand its business and work together, give us a call.
We're here to listen and collaborate, not to 'shift tin'.
