Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Virtual Encounters

Here's a concept I'm developing:


There's a bar with lots of private rooms and no doors.  People walk from room to room which have names of different countries like Germany, Japan, and Australia.  In each of these rooms are large state of the art LCD screens set up for live video chats with people from all over the planet.  The goal is to set up interesting Virtual Encounters with intriguing strangers from different cultures.  


This is a club where people come to have fun with their friends and while mingling with exotic new aquaintances from all around the world.   It's like ChatRoulette at the local Dance Club (minus all the weiners).  


Once you get past the private rooms, you'll find a large auditorium and a stage where performers from around the world entertain the live audience with concerts, comedy acts, and inspirational readings.  
Of course, the performers aren't actually there but instead are projected on a large, interactive theater screen.  They could be performing anywhere, but their act is targeted at the live audience of this club, even though it may be 2000 miles away.


The business doesn't require a tremendous amount of revenue to be profitable.  Revenue is generated by cover charges and beverage sales to the patrons who come to this club to experience unique Virtual Encounters.


We compensate entertainers at below market rates because they don't have to physically travel to the location to entertain a live audience.


We focus on bringing the audience only the best quality, unique performers we can find from around the world.  We audition talent every night and the performers who receive the most votes during the week get to perform over the weekend for bigger paydays.  Each act is projected on a large video wall that provides an incredibly immersive experience for the live audience.


Once the initial site gains popularity, there are potential growth areas by franchising the club concept to other towns and cities.  There are also growth opportunities building the website where the virtual talent shows are conducted.


What do you think of this business idea?




    

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Bandito Brothers Have NVIDIA Quadro (and the NAVY SEALs) on their side




Buy nVidia Quadro Based Workstations Here:

Monday, May 9, 2011

Why digital signage and mobility are the future of marketing

Proximity marketing
In one arena, in particular, the efficacy of multichannel marketing is on full display: an interactive medium known as proximity marketing that combines digital signage with mobile technology.
Previous technologies have attempted to leverage static delivery methods such as text messaging that essentially are spray-and-pray methods that scatter an ad to as many people as possible in the hope that a small percentage of consumers will absorb the message and possibly take action.

Though certainly innovative for their time, text message marketing and other static outreach methods historically have not generated substantial or consistent ROI.

Proximity marketing, on the other hand, is predicated on the fact that the demographic is already optimized.

Read Full Article Here:
http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/2011/05/09/why-digital-signage-and-mobility-are-the-future-of-marketing

Broadsign Uses Intel AIM Suite to Bring Together Proof-of-Play and Audience Metrics for Digital Signage Networks

Following a series of pilots, Broadsign has integrated its proof-of-play reports with Intel AIM Suite, an anonymous video analytics technology, to offer a comprehensive measurable signage solution.


The integration means that, from now on, digital signage networks using BroadSign and Intel AIM Suite will offer their advertisers not only proof-of-play reports, but also audience numbers shown for every ad played, said the Montreal, Quebec, Canada-based company.


Such correlation is essential for networks to attract more advertisers, who are often reluctant to believe the self-reported audience data that most networks are still providing today, according to the company. Tying together the two metrics makes it easier for advertisers to analyze campaign performance and allows adjusting the schedules, content and targeting of the ads based on the combined reports, said the company.

Read Full Article Here:
Broadsign Uses Intel AIM Suite to Bring Together Proof-of-Play and Audience Metrics for Digital Signage Networks

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Haroon Mirza Discusses Intel’s AIM Suite

With much of the attention given over to the importance of analytics and metrics by various speakers at Scala’s Connected Signage Conference in Philadelphia this week, Intel’s AIM Suite as discussed by Haroon Mirza, director of business development, anonymous video analytics, Intel Corporation, garnered major interested both as a speech and at the demonstration booth in the small exhibition area.

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it,” Mirza said of digital out-of-home.

Read Full Article Here:
http://www.dailydooh.com/archives/46587

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Technology on Display

Tech giant Intel is also getting in on the visual-display action with digital signage that features content tailored to the person—or people—watching the display. The signage uses anonymous video analytics (or AVA), a technology created by Canada-based Cogno Vision, which was acquired by Intel last year. AVA gathers data about the person standing in front of the sign, including measuring a person’s height, build and level of interest. The technology can guess if the person is a man or a woman and can gather data on several people at once. The signs are also semi-transparent, which allows them to direct the customer to specific merchandise on the sales floor. The displays also work as a map of the store, allowing customers to shop for other merchandise and browse other departments. And preferred customers can send search information to their phone using a Bluetooth connection.

Read full article here:
http://www.apparelnews.net/news/retailing/110429-Technology-on-Display/page1

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

I have products I'd like to move out at a profit, but hate to sell.

A different concept:

For $100 and an hour of your time, I will do a one hour video chat with you an teach you how to sell your products.com Amazon.com.  The biggest webstore on the planet!  I'll teach you to maximize their offerings and help you to maximize your profits while selling on their site.  Amazon.com sells your products, collects the money from the customers, tells you where to ship it, and then pays you the check at the end of the month.  As long as you take good care of the customers by shipping high quality products in a timely manner, you'll never even have to deal with the customers except on a vary rare basis.


Once you make your payment for $100.00, I will immediately send you my ebook titled:
How to maximize your profits by selling your products on amazon.com

This is a step by step guide of what I'll be teaching you in our video chat. It will also give you detailed instructions on how to prepare your products for sale on Amazon, how to write your listings to gain maximum customers and how to price your products so they'll sell quickly for maximum profit.
We will then set-up a video chat at a time convenient for you where I will guide you through the main points of the ebook and help you get started together.  I'll be with you as you get started and give you the ability to ask any questions live in real time.

Note: The above is a rough draft of a concept I'm developing.

If you have any ideas, questions, feedback, or partnership inquiries, email me at shortarmguy@aol.com

Thanks!!

Todd Swank

I Have an Idea for a Mobile App, but Don't Know How to Create and Publish it?

I'm working on a new business concept as follows:

Mobile Applications are exploding on smart phones, tablet computers, and other brand new, portable devices.  Everybody is talking about their favorite Apps and I know several people even making money by selling their own apps.  I have a great idea for a mobile application, but I don't have the first idea where to look for help.

If this is you, then look no further.

I can help you.  For $100.00 and an hour of your time, I will do a one on one online video chat with you and will teach you how to easily create your own mobile application for free.  I will then teach you how to get that app published.  I will also show you how you can turn around and use that application to create a new income stream for you and your family.

Once you make your payment for $100.00, I will immediately send you my ebook titled: 

Steps to Getting Your App Idea Created and Published

This is a step by step guide of what I'll be teaching you in our video chat.  It will also give you detailed instructions on how to create an app, where to get it published, and some ideas to help you market your apps through various social networking sites.


Note:  The above is a rough draft of a concept I'm developing.

If you have any ideas, questions, feedback, or partnership inquiries, email me at shortarmguy@aol.com

Thanks!!

Todd Swank

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Haivision CoolSign partners with AOpen

Aquired in Q4 of 2010 by Haivision Inc, Coolsign was a software provider catering to resellers and end-users that were looking to get into digital signage but were having difficulties understanding the vast array of products and services available to them. After their acquisition, the need for a hardware based digital signage solution became a top priority.

80% of the market

As a software company, CoolSign was looking to broaden their reach in the digital signage landscape, Raffi Vartian, Director of Business Development said, "We needed to have a hardware out-of-the-box experience where users can simply pull something out of a box and have it online. We were looking to cover 80% of the (digital signage) market, and we found that AOpen was covering 80% of that market."

CoolSign Software / AOpen Hardware

CoolSign is a feature-rich signage solution that incorporates sophisticated and patented technology to control, schedule, distribute, display, and monitor digital media. A mature technology that can scale to meet the demands of digital signage deployments of any size, CoolSign can manage media displays from complex video walls, to synchronized flat panels, to highly distributed picture frames. Initially launched more than 12 years ago, CoolSign boasts a large installed base of networks and players at premier clients, including the US Department of Defense, covering a broad spectrum from retail to corporate to pure-play digital-out-of-home advertising (DOOH) networks. Some of these applications run 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week, and the media player behind it needs to be able to withstand those demands.The AOpen DE7000, with its ability to run the most demanding high definition content, was chosen to fill that out-of-the-box need. Housed in a miniscule 6.5 by 6.5 inch foot print, is a fully configurable media player capable of handling the most rigorous of digital signage installations. "It's a rock solid 'industry grade', great Windows-based platform." Raffi added.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

The ZOTAC ZBox HD Mountable PC

Nor-Tech is now selling the Zotac ZBOX HD Mountable PC


Onboard Video NVIDIA ION graphics processor
Onboard LAN Gigabit (10/100/1000 Mbps) + 802.11n Wireless
Onboard Audio Onboard 8-channel Digital Audio, Stereo Analog Audio
Model HD-ID11
CPU Socket ATOM D510
Dimensions188mm x 188mm x 44mm (L x W x D)
Chipset NVIDIA ION
Memory Type DDR2-800
Package Contents LCD Mount (VESA), Power brick & cable, Stand, DVI to VGA adapter
Memory Slots 1 x DDR2
SATA 160 GB hard drive (default)
Video Ports Dual link DVI, VGA (w/ DVI to VGA adapter - included), HDMI
USB 6 x USB 2.0
Power Connector DC19V  eSATA   SD/MS/MS Pro/xD Card Reader

ZOTAC ZBox HD Mountable PC is a perfect solution for Digital Signage, Office PCs or School Labs Enjoy ECO friendly computing with superior energy-efficiency and performance with the ZOTAC ZBOX HD-ID11 mini-PC powered by the class-leading next-generation NVIDIA® ION™ and Intel® Atom™ architectures. Next-generation NVIDIA® ION™ graphics deliver unrivaled levels of performance and high definition video decode capabilities to the ZOTAC ZBOX HD-ID11 mini-PC with NVIDIA® CUDA™, PureVideo™ HD and HDMI 1.3a technologies for ECO friendly computing with premium audio and video capabilities. High performance ECO friendly computing is only two thumb screws away with the ZOTAC ZBOX HD-ID11 mini-PC thanks to a user friendly design that makes mastering the mini-PC quick and easy. Space for a 2.5-inch hard drive and one 200-pin DDR2-800 DIMM slot enable users to customize the internals of the ZOTAC ZBOX HD-ID11 to their own needs while USB 2.0 ports, a 6-in-1 memory card reader (SD/SDHC/MS/MS Pro/xD/MMC) and eSATA port provide greater external expansion capabilities for perfect ECO friendly computing.




Mountable PCs allow you to bring high performance computing into the smallest of places!

At Nor-Tech, we create mountable computers for all sorts of customers.

These small-form factor computers are the perfect fit for digital signage, kiosks, point-of-sale, and anywhere space is limited.

From Linux based units running on an Intel Atom Processor, through fully ruggedized workstations featuring the latest Intel 2nd Generation Coreseries of processors, Solid State storage, and Windows 7 Ultimate Edition and Intel vPro technology, Nor-Tech has a Mini PC solution for your project.

All no bigger than an extrenal hard drive. 

Read more about our mountable PC's here!

Intel Video: Anonymous Video Analytics in Digital Signage

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Mercials --- What are those?

Mercials --- advertisements viewed in a public space on a digital signage display.

Intel ISS 2011 ---- Session on Digital Signage


I was at the Intel Solutions Summit in March, 2011.
http://shortarmguy.blogspot.com/2011/03/shortarmguy-goes-to-intel-solutions.html

I was impressed by the fact that the most highly visited session was the one focused on Digital Signage. 

The room was standing room only!

I was enraptured at what I heard.  Intel said digital signage is currently the second fastest growing advertising method on the planet.  They're projecting it to be a $14.6 Billion Market in 2011.  They also said the marketplace was the wild, wild west because there were no clear market leaders yet.  There's opportunities in every length of the supply chain that enterprising entrepreneurs can pursue.

The goal of this blog to help businesses learn how to use Digital Signage to create new revenue opportunities. 

Along the way, I'm hopng to find some new revenue opportunities for myself and my company at the same time!

Let's get rich together!!

Todd Swank
todds@nor-tech.com

The AOpen Digital Engine DE57-HA Rocks!!


I've just started selling this brand new Mountable PC barebones from Aopen.  It's called the Digital Engine DE57-HA.  With features including the latest speedy Intel Core i3 and Core i5 series of Mobile Processors, up to 8GB of DDR3 memory, 256GB of Ultra Quick SSD storage and Microsoft Windows 7 Professional, this bad boy will outperform almost any full sized desktop PC.  It also is easily managed by your corporate server thanks to it's built in Intel vPro technology. 

My customers love the performance, flexibility, and reliability of the AOpen line of Digital Engines mini ITX systems.    They use unique mounting solutions so they can be placed on poles, ceiling display mounts, attached to an assembly line, put in a kiosk, or any tight place where high performance computing is needed.  

You can read more about the specs of the system here:


Todd Swank

Opportunities in Digital Signage

I sell computer systems for a living.

My name is Todd Swank and I'm the VP of Marketing for a company called Nor-Tech.  We sell computer systems of all shapes and sizes.  For the past couple of years, I've seen significant growth in the category of ultra small form factor, mini ITX systems.  Customers are using them for a wide variety of digital signage projects.  I want to be able to broaden my offerings to other customers and grow with this rapidly expaning market.  If you're looking for new opportunities in digital signage and need help with hardware or embedded software applications, please contact me about creating a partnership.

This blog is dedicated to finding and pursuing new revenue opportunities in Digital Signage. 

If you're interested in learning about our Digital Signage Computer Systems and mounting solutions, please visit us here: 

Voyageur Mountable Computers
http://www.nor-tech.com/mini/mountmore.html

Voyageur Fanless Mountable Computers
http://www.nor-tech.com/mini/fanless.html

Voyageur Mini PCs
http://www.nor-tech.com/mini/minimore.html

Thanks for reading my post!!

Todd Swank
todds@nor-tech.com




Sunday, April 17, 2011

Anonymous Video Analytics and Digital Signage

Up until this point, anonymous video analytics has been used primarily as a tool for measuring vistors who view the content of a given digital display.

What's soon to come is a revolution in digital signage powered by anonymous video analytics.

Digital signage is about to become INTERACTIVE!!